Rev. George
Miller
March 7, 2021
Luke 15:8-10
For the last 3 months we’ve
been focusing on the Gospel of Luke, and here we come to chapter 15, which is
called the Gospel of Luke’s Gospel.
Jesus’ ministry is a
success. Tax collectors and sinners are flocking to him.
The Pharisees and scribes
are unhappy about this. As gatekeepers of the faith, they don’t like that Jesus
is spending so much time with society’s outsiders and welcoming them in.
Instead of arguing, or apologizing
for his actions, Jesus tells them three parables. The first, about a shepherd who looks all
over for a lost sheep.
The third is about a father
who waits for a reckless son to return, and when he does, the dad, filled with
womb-love, runs, hugs, kisses his child, then gives him a robe, a ring, and a banquet.
Sandwiched between these two
testosterone-tales is a story about a woman who loses a coin and does
everything she can to find it, and then rejoices with all around her.
If Chapter 15 is the Gospel
within the Gospel, then verses 8-10 is perhaps the Gospel of the Gospel within
the Gospel, and perhaps the very heart of everything we need to know about God,
about us, and about Heaven.
What makes this so powerful,
and so subversive, is that it features a woman, and it is a woman who
represents God.
Often when Luke 15 is
preached, we hear about the shepherd, we hear about the father, but what if the
star of the story is this woman who will do anything it takes to find one lost
coin?
Have you ever wondered who
God is?
Ever wondered what Heaven is
like?
Ever wonder how truly
valuable you are?
Perhaps this story is the
one and only thing we need to know.
So, let’s take a look.
At the start of the story,
the woman has 10 coins. She loses one.
“Big deal!” we may say. She
still has 9.
But it is a big deal.
It’s not like she had 10
pennies, or 10 nickels. She had 10 drachmae,
which back then was equal to 1 day of work.
In modern times, in which
the current minimum wage in Florida is $8.65 an hour, that means she had $692,
and she lost $69.20.
Think of how much $69.20 is
to lose.
That’s a cell phone payment. That’s a month’s worth of gas.
What if she was one of our
Pantry guests, with 3 generations of family living under her roof?
Now that lost coin is of
greater value; now we see how that 1 lost coin is of great worth.
Have you ever had a moment in
your life in which you had to dig under the cushions and search through your
car seats to find any loose change?
This woman’s house is not
like the ones we live in today. It most likely had one small window high up on
the wall.
If the floor wasn’t made of packed
down dirt, it consisted of reeds and weeds, making it easy for a coin to drop
through.
To search for a lost coin
would’ve been akin to searching for a needle in a haystack; it would have been
digging through sand to find a grain of rice.
Yet that’s what this woman
does.
She lights a lamp. She sweeps.
She searches. She doesn’t stop
until she finds. Then she rejoices and
invites all who are around to celebrate with her.
This is not just a parable
about a frugal woman with a broom. This
is a parable in which the woman represents God.
Her actions represent the
lengths that God will go through just to find us.
The drachma represents just
how valuable we are.
We are not a penny that can
be easily tossed aside, nor a nickel that be forgotten about in a drawer.
We are as valuable as an
entire day.
We are worthy of being sought
after.
We are deserving of being
celebrated.
All of us. Every one of us. Sinners and scribes, insiders and those outside.
What a powerful tale to
tell; what an amazing story to share; what a glimpse into God that is not about
wrath or anger, patriarchy or karma, or being happy when someone fails.
This short, short story basically
tells us everything we may ever need to know about God-
That in God’s eyes we are valuable;
in God’s womb-love we are worthy of being found and being celebrated.
Could there be a better, simpler
way to say, “Jesus loves me, this I know” or “God’s got the whole world in her
hands?”
This message could not come
at a better time, because right now COVID has caused so many people to feel
lost, COVID has caused so may people to feel discarded.
But this, this story says, “Hold
on, hold up- God has not forgotten you, God is not neglecting you, God does not
see you as worthless at all.”
This is a story that says to
each and every one of us “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound…I once was lost
but now I’m found.”
For those out there who are
questioning your value, for those who wonder where God is, for those who worry
if anyone even misses you-
Know that you are of great
worth, that God is lighting the way, and that you are missed more than you
could ever know.
God is the shepherd who
looks for the lost sheep.
God is the father who runs
out to greet God’s beloved children with hugs and kisses.
God is the woman who will
not stop until you, the most precious thing on earth, has been found.
For that the heavens and
nature sing, the angels rejoice, and we can all say “Amen!”
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