The Lost Coin - Luke 15:8-10

Continuing on with the theme of searching for lost things, Jesus tells another parable about a woman who had ten silver coins, but lost one. This woman was distraught at having lost the coin and did “light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it.” A Google search for the meaning of this parable gave insight that at the time of Christ, the Greek word for one silver coin was “drachmas” which was the equivalent of a Roman’s daily wage. Having ten drachmas for her would be like having a whole pay check to me, so if I lost 10% of my paycheck, I would be upset. In fact a couple of weeks ago, I thought that I accidentally threw away $60 at work, you know that I went back that night and dug through the trash until I found the empty envelope and finally remembered what I did with it. An article about this parable from the ucg.org says, “Moreover, an expert on ancient Middle Eastern lifestyle says that coin money was not common among such peasants: ‘The peasant village is, to a large extent, self-supporting, making its own cloth and growing its own food. Cash is a rare commodity. Hence the lost coin is of far greater value in a peasant home than the days’ labor it represents monetarily.’”

The lost coin is determined to be of great worth, but what I find interesting is that both this parable and the parable of the lost sheep both have to do with finding something that is lost that will increase their wealth. Looking at the parables from that angle we can assume that any lost person that is brought back into the fold is meant to increase our monetary reserves. If we look at it from the point of view that, for the woman, the coins are incredibly valuable monetarily, but wouldn’t be necessary for her day to day living, so the value of the coins might be more sentimental or kept for a rainy day. Basically, it’s possible that the woman didn’t need the money to live on every day, but wanted the coins anyway because they were precious to her. Similarly, the people that God wants back in the fold are not “notches” on our belt indicating how successful we are, they don’t count as points for us to get into heaven. People are very important because they are children of God, therefore our motivation in “finding” them should be love and concern for them as people.

This coin that is so important to this woman was lost, but how? Presumably she lived alone, meaning that no one in the house had moved it without her knowledge, she was the only one responsible for keeping that money safe. The IM says, “The coin became lost through its owner’s negligence. The woman in the parable can represent anyone who has responsibility to watch over and spiritually care for someone else. In our day, we can apply the Savior’s parable by remembering that a lack of attention or proper care from other Church members may contribute to a member of the Church becoming lost.” I can personally attest to this being true. It’s not just a matter of not being welcomed or something benign like that, I think that this parable speaks to any and all who are not cared for in the way that they need. For instance, personally as well as what I know from others, members of the church and even the leadership are human and have their own opinions and biases.

A bishop once counseled me in a way that made me question my place in the church, and it was that event that lead to my eventually leaving the Church. I’m not saying he drove me out or anything like that, I made my own choices, but I would say that my family dynamic as well as his experience made it so that I couldn’t be completely truthful and he couldn’t truly see what I needed. After many years and a great deal of perspective later, a friend helped me see that this bishop was indeed a wonderful leader to the vast majority of the ward and if I had encountered him as an adult, my interaction would have been different. However, at the time that I needed him, he was the vice principal at a local middle school, so when I came into his office as a troubled middle school youth needing ecclesiastical leadership, he assumed his “vice-principal” role and I assumed my role as a wayward child in need of stern rebuke and discipline. I feel bad about the situation because as an adult I became very close to his family and I always felt that what he had learned about my family and our situation over the years after counseling me the way he did, I think that he realized that his counsel of “all the problems you have with your parents is your own fault and only you can fix it” was wrong. I got the sense that he felt remorse for treating me the way that he did, and that he knew he hadn’t helped or been sensitive to my situation at all. But the fact remains that if this guy who was so great to everyone else was the only one who had not been “sensitive” to my situation, I never would have left.

There were many people who viewed me as “troubled,” which I was, but left it at that, or worse, blamed me for the situation that I was in, made assumptions about me and let me know that what I was perceived to be doing was wrong. Because of those people, I took a break, I knew that the gospel was true, but I wasn’t going to ready to come back to church until I could say that I was strong enough that I would never leave again, regardless of what someone else told me. I’ve been lucky in the fact that all the leadership that I’ve encountered since I’ve been back has been great to me, but I’d like to think that I’m spiritually ready for when the time comes that I’m that little girl back in the bishop or stake president’s office being sent away and I have to deal with it as a believer.

I’d also like to take the time to point out that unlike in the parable, the person who “lost” me wasn’t the one who found me. It was a visiting teacher from Hawaii, who came to me faithfully, even though it must have been a nightmare getting through military reservation security. She wasn’t “molly-Mormon” either, she was super cool and the first day that I went back to church, she made space for me to sit by her and cooed over my newborn baby. Just like not all who are “lost” are inactive, smoking or drinking on the weekend, not all who “find” follow a typical stereotype either, temple recommend holding or Bible thumping. We are all lost in our own ways and we are all finders in our own ways.

What’s important to remember is what President Gordon B. Hinckley is quoted as teaching in the IM, “There must be warmth in the work of the Lord. There must be friendship. There must be love unfeigned. There must be appreciation and thanks expressed. There must be constant nurturing with the good word of God. All of these are small things, so easy to do, and they make so great a difference. I have come to feel that the greatest tragedy in the Church is the loss of those who join in the Church and then fall away. With very few exceptions it need not happen… It is not an easy thing to make the transition incident to joining this Church. It means cutting old ties. It means leaving friends. It may mean setting aside cherished beliefs. It may require a change of habits and a suppression of appetites. In so many cases it means loneliness and even fear of the unknown. There must be nurturing and strengthening during this difficult season of a convert’s life.”

An excellent point is made here, in that true conversion to the gospel does equate to loneliness much of the time. I’m trying to remember the quote that says something like “the path to true discipleship is always going to be up hill.” And there’s another one that basically says, “the life of a follower of Christ is always going to be lonelier and more difficult.” There are a couple of ways that we can read these sayings, and the first most obvious way is that if something makes life more difficult then it can be viewed as wrong or “not meant to be.” But then there is the saying that “nothing great comes easily.” Does something that’s difficult mean that it’s wrong or not worth it? Let’s look at some examples. School, almost universally viewed as a worthy endeavor, is very difficult. Relationships, almost universally sought after and viewed as a vital component of life, are very difficult. Parenting, almost universally experienced, is incredibly difficult. Are these difficulties worth the effort put into them? Could we consider the difficulties struggled through as a sort of “investment” into a great venture? That is the way that makes the most sense to me for understanding the difficulty in discipleship and the answers the ‘is it worth it” question.

In order to search for her lost coin, the woman will “light a candle, and sweep the house.” Interestingly, these details give us more perspective, as is explained in the article I referenced earlier, “a typical house of that time had a few small slits for windows or no windows at all, so that there was little light. To search for the lost coin requires more light. Oil for a lamp is not cheap, however, and she normally saves it for the night. But she must find that coin.” The perspective here shifts the understanding of what was required for this woman to adequately search for her lost coin. This wasn’t a casual “let’s see what we have here” search, it was a dedicated, taking out all the stops, doing whatever it takes search. So much of the time fellowshipping people and being their friend is difficult to do because we’re busy and they’re busy and maybe we don’t agree on some things or maybe they are hard to be around. All of these things can be stumbling blocks in our attempt at forging a relationship with someone, but like this woman, we are expected to do whatever it takes, to remove any and all stumbling blocks in our quest. That isn’t to say that we hound people until they want to punch us in the face. We don’t push the gospel on anyone, we live our lives and let them see what the gospel has done for us and when they are ready, they will come to us. It is imperative that we approach people and love and concern for their well-being. If love is our guiding light, then people will be more receptive, and remember the good feelings that they had when they were around us.