If we examine the etymology of the word lost we come across several words. One meaning of the word lost is ruin or destruction. Yet another meaning is loosen, divide, or cut apart with an emphasis on dissolution. The word lost can also mean failure to hold, keep or preserve what was in one's possession. The word also means failure to gain or win. In the parable of the Lost Coin Jesus used the term lost in terms of failure to hold, keep or preserve what was in one's possession.
Perhaps through this parable Jesus is telling us that we are to look diligently for the things we lose in this journey called life. The woman could have been indifferent to the fact that she had lost a coin. She could have thought she would be okay even without the coin. After all she had nine other coins and she lost only one. She would have thought that she would be okay with just nine coins. But her loss disturbed her. So she took action. Her first action was to light a lamp. Her second action was to search in her own home that which she lost. Soon she found the coin.
Many of us start out life with great hopes and expectations. We are equipped with many good gifts by our parents and grandparents. Perhaps our parents give us a good education. Perhaps they teach us valuable skills. Perhaps they instill good values in us. But sometimes, during the course of this journey called life we may lose things important to us. If we don't live by the values instilled in us by our parents we lose that value. If we don't use the skills we were taught in our childhood we lose the skill. If we don't build a life on our educational background we lose that background.
Jesus does not tell us where this woman received her ten coins from. She may have received her coins from her parents. She may have received her coins as a gift from her grandparents. She herself may have earned the ten coins. Coins were the only money in the ancient world before paper currency came into being. Coins represent money. Money represents wealth. Wealth can appear in many forms. Wealth can be material as in dollars, land, jewels, or high paying jobs but a godly character can be a wealth, a loving family even if not inordinately rich is a wealth, a good education is also a kind of wealth, a talent to sing well or dance well is a wealth, a skill such as cooking or computer programming can also can be a wealth. So it can be assumed that the woman in owning ten coins had wealth of some kind that enabled her to lead a contented and dignified life on this planet. perhe woman had things at her disposal which could be converted into money but which she neglected which would have helped her have wealth. Perhaps she lost her ability to bike through lack of practice. Perhaps she lost her ability to sing well because the myriad responsibilities of life caused her to neglect her talent. Perhaps her parents had taught her to be polite and well mannered and she due to the presence of rude friends in her life also became rude and ill mannered in her interactions.
Maybe Jesus tells us in this parable that the woman's ten coins represent the good gifts many of us are endowed with when we embark on this pilgrimage through this planet called earth. We are not to lose the gifts we are blessed with. We are to guard and protect our gifts. We are to nurture and cherish our gifts. Our education is a gift. Our special talents are a gift. Our families are a gift. Our homes are a gift. Our children are a gift. Our parents are a gift. Our siblings are a gift.
The world is a busy place. It is full of sounds and activities, people and their enterprises, loud blaring music, and political slogans, televangelists and new age gurus promising salvation and politicians promising the good life, emptiness and frivolity passing off as entertainment, inanities masquerading as conversation; the current of the world is strong and relentless, it is easy to get swept away or at least be influenced. The woman would have somehow lost something important to her just in the course of living in a world such as this. Isn't that how it is for many of us when we get swept away and chasing the latest thing forgetting the valuable things we are naturally endowed with. How often do we overlook what we have and think the grass is greener on the other side until it is too late. How often do we change to please the world trying to live up to the world's judgement of us in the process losing the wealth we inherited.
In the case of the woman with the ten coins Jesus does not say how she lost the one coin. Jesus does not tell us if she herself was careless or if she was swept away by the inanities of the world. We only know she lost one of the ten coins. When she lost one of the ten coins she immediately lit a lamp. Then she started searching diligently.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, let us try not to lose the important things in life. Let us be vigilant in protecting the blessings in our life. And if by chance we lose them let us look for that which we lost and find that which we lost. The lamp the woman lights when faced with the loss of her coin would have been the lamp of faith in Jesus. She would have lit the lamp of faith. The searching could be a metaphor for prayer. And finding the coin could have been an answer to prayer. When we lose something of value to us let us turn to Jesus. Let us pray about the things in our life that are valuable to us. When we loose something of value to us let us also not be in despair. Let us light the lamp of faith and the lamp of hope. The woman would not have searched diligently unless she had hope that she would find that which she lost. Hope was also perhaps the lamp lit by the woman. Dear loving sisters and brothers in Christ, let us also light the lamp of hope when we lose something of value to us that we will be able to find it.
In the parable of the Lost coin immediately after Jesus said the woman found the coin she lost Jesus says there is joy in the presence of angels when one sinner repents. When the woman celebrated here on earth along with her friends and neighbors someone else was also simultaneously celebrating. It was the angels in heaven who were celebrating. Jesus said when a sinner repents there is joy in the presence of angels. When Jesus said that there is joy in the presence of angels when a sinner repents right after Jesus said the woman celebrated with her friends and neighbors Jesus was perhaps pointing out to the fact that the woman looking for the coin she lost is the same as repenting. She repented of the fact that she lost something she owned and searched and found that which she lost. When we recover or find the things we loose in the journey of life along with our friends and neighbors angels in heaven also rejoice.
At the beginning of the parable Jesus does not describe her as a sinner. She is simply a woman who owned ten coins. However after she lost the coin and finds it Jesus says there is joy among the angels when one sinner repents. We are sinners when we lose the things we were blessed with in life. We are sinners if we lose a friendship to angry words. We are sinners if we lose a talent to negligence and laziness. We are sinners if we lose our physical health to unhealthy eating habits. However when we find the things we lose by taking the steps to find them there is joy in the presence of angels. When we restore a lost friendship through forgiveness, we can celebrate, when we give up laziness and chose a disciplined lifestyle we can regain our talent, when we chose to eat healthy and exercise we can find our physical health again.
Angels are defined as spiritual beings who act as messengers, attendants or agents of God. When Jesus was born on this planet, it was angels who brought the good news to the shepherds. It is the same beings who rejoice when we here on earth find that which we lost. Why would they be interested in our lives, we may ask. Dear loving sisters and brothers in Christ, Jesus paints a wonderful picture of the connection between heaven and earth when He says angels rejoice in heaven when a sinner repents. When we find the things we lost and we rejoice, spiritual, and heavenly beings rejoice with us. Dear sisters and brothers in Christ let us make angels in heaven rejoice with us every day.
Perhaps it is worthwhile to think about why Jesus chose a woman to be the main character in this parable. Is there anything in this parable that pertains only to women? Perhaps women tend to lose their coins more easily than men. Marriage and motherhood changes women more than marriage and fatherhood changes men. Unless women are intentional about preserving their identity, gifts and talents, women can easily lose sight of the people they were before marriage and drown in the maelstrom of commitments and obligations. Women also have to watch and guard against the eroding effect of the world upon the things we hold important in our lives. It takes daily effort to turn our back on the world and look to Jesus for help. That is the only way we can protect and guard the coins we are entrusted with. Perhaps Jesus makes a woman the main character because women lose coins more than men. If we women don't lose the coins we inherited we will have something valuable to pass down to the next generation. Often we think of sacrifice as giving up our identities, that which makes us who we are. True sacrifice is being disciplined enough to find the time to devote to that which makes us ourselves, in nurturing the gifts given to us by our parents.
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