Daily Devotions
Luke
Luke 15:8-10 "THE PARABLE OF THE LOST COIN"
Day 190 – Luke 15
Text: Luke 15:8-10
THE PARABLE OF THE LOST COIN
What does it mean to be very poor? In this parable Jesus featured a woman who had lost one of “ten silver coins” (Luke 15:8). Only those who have experienced great penury would be able to understand why the woman devoted so much time and energy to recover one lost coin.
Many lose sight of what it means to be so poor, that even one silver coin (some have equated the Greek drachma to the Roman denarius, which is a whole day’s wage for a labourer) must be found. Loss was not an easy option to accept. To the very poor, every coin counted!
LOSING SIGHT OF THE PRECIOUSNESS OF ONE SOUL
A wealthy person would not be the least perturbed if he lost a coin or two. If he had struggled with poverty in the past before he obtained wealth, then he has probably forgotten how each coin earned was precious.
Why did Jesus choose an obviously penurious woman in a parable? Those who were suffering poverty would understand the impact and the thrust of this parable. They would understand that Jesus was trying to teach them that as much as every coin is valuable, so every soul is precious in God’s sight. Those who were wealthy, and the Pharisees and Scribes were usually the wealthier ones, would not be able to fully appreciate this parable. The wealthy would have lost appreciation of what it means to have one coin go missing. There would also not be the ability to apply and transfer this meaning into the spiritual realm.
“THERE WILL BE MORE JOY IN HEAVEN OVER ONE SINNER WHO REPENTS…” Luke 15:7
Jesus sought to teach people how to view things from a spiritual perspective. The spiritual perspective is one that views things from the viewpoint of God. Jesus used the word “heaven” to describe all who inhabited it, and of course that would include God and His holy angels.
There should be joy in the heart if and when a sinner repents – this was what Jesus sought to teach the multitude. Heaven certainly rejoices over the repentance of sinful people. If this was the case, we should learn how to rejoice at every sinner who repents and returns to God.
“THERE IS JOY IN THE PRESENCE OF THE ANGELS OF GOD OVER ONE SINNER WHO REPENTS” Luke 15:10
Jesus emphasized this important truth! There is genuine joy in heaven when one sinner repents! This time round, Jesus mentioned “the angels of God”. This was another way of speaking about “heaven”.
A great contrast was drawn up between the attitude of the Pharisees and Scribes who complained that Jesus spent so much time with “the tax-collectors and the sinners” (Luke 15:1) , and that of “heaven”. This contrast was both true and obvious! The Pharisees and Scribes had lost whatever sense of joy they had (if they had any in the first place) over an erring sinner returning to God in contrite repentance.
THE LOSS OF CONCERN FOR THE SINFUL
Why couldn’t the Pharisees and Scribes rejoice when Jesus won the hearts of the tax-collectors and the sinners? Why did these religious leaders disdain the energy and effort put in by Jesus to point sinful people to God?
Let us consider the following…
1. Religion had become a matter of keeping traditions .
2. Observance of the Law became mechanical and technical.
3. The “human element” was lost somewhere along the way.
4. In a wooden understanding of religious practices, even the element of God became distant and remote.
5. Self-righteousness became the order of the day. Religion became a matter of doing the “right thing” – essentially fulfilling humanistic ideas of what it means to have faith in God.
6. Religion was no longer a matter of heart-felt concern for the lost and the sinful. Religion as practised by the Pharisees and Scribes was a matter of excluding those who sinned.
All these things added to a rigid understanding of religion. Cold expression of religion was the result. The Pharisees and Scribes just could not fathom the love and genuine concern that Jesus exhibited to the tax-collectors and the sinful.
THE WARMTH OF TRUE RELIGION
Jesus both taught and exhibited the essence of true religion. Let us take time to consider three aspects of the religion that Jesus espoused…
1. It begins with a correct understanding of God
a) God was Father
b) God cared for people… the poor, the wretched, the sick, the maimed, the blind, the ones possessed by demons…
c) He would receive anyone into His Kingdom if the sinner showed genuine repentance
2. It is following the footsteps of Jesus as His Disciples
a) It involves having faith in Jesus as the Messiah
b) It is embracing His teachings as truth
c) It is living out this faith as His disciples
3. It is to be expressed by a deep concern for people who still lived in the darkness of sin
a) It means reaching out to people – including tax-collectors and the obviously sinful
b) It entails a genuine sense of love and concern for people
c) It expresses itself in joyful endeavours to reach out to people
What is our understanding and expression of true religion?