“Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, 1 Say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repented!”—Luke 15:8-10.
The sinner is here compared to a piece of silver. It reminds one of “the treasure hid in a field” and “the pearl of great price.” It is too valuable to be lost. A candle must be ignited and the search continued until it is found. But here, as in the last parable, the piece of money does not come into prominence. It is the one who had lost it. The search is hers, and the joy is hers. “Rejoice with me” she said, “for I have found the piece which I had lost.”
Attempts have been made to show that there is an analogy between a piece of money bearing an image and superscription, and man still bearing the image of God from Gen. 1:27, which says that “God created man in his own image;” and Jas. 3:9, “men which are made after the similitude of God”—however much the piece may have been damaged and the image disfigured. But the coin actually named here is “a drachma,” (valued about 7.5d.) and this generally bore the image of an owl, a tortoise, &e. It was a Greek coin belonging to the kingdom then passed away, so that if there is any allusion in the money used, it would seem to point out, that man had lost his moral likeness to God, and now bore the impress of the unclean.
May there not be an allusion to the professing church in this parable, seeing that the piece of money was lost in “the house;” and alas! we fear there is many a lost one hidden away in some dark corner of the professing church. But it must not be lost. The candle must be lit and the house searched. Here again there may be allusions to the darkness and to the dirt and dust. As to darkness, nothing is more manifest. The very doubts and questionings once used by the openly skeptical are now adopted by many who bear the name of Christ. Truth is undermined, the scrip-lures torn into shreds, and philosophy and reason installed in the place of reverence and faith.
And surely many a one of God’s own is hidden amid the darkness, and must sooner or later be found. But what a process! a light must be brought where all should have been light; and the house must be swept. Oh the dust that has accumulated in that beautiful house erected in the beginning of the Acts—a house in which everything should have been safe and should have been an ornament. But now it is where a piece of silver may be lost. Alas! how wonderfully true is this picture.
And the woman had to search “diligently” or “carefully,” till she found it. In the case of the sheep it was lost in the wilderness, and there could be no difficulty in discerning the sheep from any other animal; but in a dusty house—and it is dusty or there would have been no need of its being swept—how easily a small coin may be overlooked! But, thanks be to God, it must be found: the search is “till she find it.” When we look at the many ‘apartments’ in that house, and see the dreadful darkness and evils in many of its corners—how needful the light, the sweeping, and the careful search!
But it is found, and the woman calls together her friends and her neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.” Who is the woman? May it not be the church in distinction from the house? Notice she does not say, “My piece of money.” The Shepherd called the sheep he had found “my sheep:” but the woman says, “the piece which I had lost,” as though it had been her carelessness or want of watchfulness that had caused the loss of the piece of silver that had been committed to her care. In like manner the enemy sowed tares in the field while men slept, in the parable of the Wheat and Tares.
And this brings out an important truth that we should have the same care one for another, seeing we are all members of the one body. Doubtless there are some gifted to be pastors and who watch for souls—to whom we do well to take heed—but in the divided state of the church, it surely devolves upon all to have the same care one for another, as the whole of our body feels the pain in any part, and when one part is honored, the whole rejoices.
And when a poor straying one is “lost” amid the evils of the professing church, God is often pleased to bless the means used by throwing His light on some portion of His word—it may be by a simple tract—and the lost one is found, and restored first to Christ, and then brought to the communion of God’s saints. And then there shall be joy and rejoicing. Oh, that our poor cold hearts might enter more into the joy there is in heaven and before the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. It is one more snatched out of the kingdom of Satan or out of the great house of lifeless profession, and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, that shall be to His praise and glory to all eternity. But there should be present joy—joy down here as well as in the presence of the angels of God.