.MANNA FROM
MESSIAH
Ellen Mumper – Kingston Ontario, Canada
The Parable of the
Woman and the Lost Coin
One of the smallest
passages in the Gospels that are parables, the beautiful story of the woman and
the lost coin in Luke 15 demonstrates the infinite worth of one soul to the God
of the universe. There is no person He
is not seeking, as Luke 19:10 says "I have come to seek and to save that
which was lost." I think
we can agree that all men are lost in sin!
Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and come short of the
Glory of God.
.
In
Hebraic thought many of the attributes of the Father are said to be feminine in
nature. A search of Scripture in
original Hebrew shows this, as there is no neuter gender in Hebrew for nouns,
verbs and adjectives. All must be in agreement. The feminine attributes of God have nothing
to do with sex, but rather with nurturing, cherishing, caring and light. One example is the menorah, which is a
feminine word. So it is not surprising
that God's nature is shown through a woman in this parable.
.
Luke 15
opens with Yeshua (Jesus) having fellowship with publicans and sinners, who
were most hated in Jewish society. They
earned His trust for this and they listened to Him. He was very anxious to reach them for the
Kingdom when most of hypocritical Judaism would have liked to do away with
them. For this our Lord was profoundly
criticized. Verse 2 says: "The
P'rushim (Pharisees) and scribes murmured saying, this man receives sinners,
and eats with them." Then Yeshua
told them the beautiful story of the lost sheep and the Shepherd. Most people know this parable better than
the one about the lost coin.
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Then we
meet this woman. She is very poor. A Jewish woman would have received a dowry
of coins which customarily was worn as a headdress over her head-covering, even
in sleep. If she had been rich, loss of one coin would not have been so
desperate. A drachma was equivalent to
one denarius, which was the day's labour of a servant. To her it was a lot of
money. But the coin symbolizes more than the value of the coin. To lose it
would be for her to lose face in her community and to be in shame before her
husband. She begins her desperate search.
.
She
lights a lamp, begins to sweep, and never stops until she finds that lost coin.
Everything depends on it;
her
husband's trust in her, her honour in the community, and her value as a wife.
That is the surface meaning. Finally
she finds it! Under some corner, some
bit of dark corner or under some missed dust she finally finds the coin she has
valued so. And she rejoices! We know that the Scripture says that there
is likewise joy in the presence of the angels in the finding of one lost
sinner.
.
The
deeper levels of this parable are exciting!
As we mentioned, God is compared to a woman. A woman would be more
careful than a man in housekeeping. This is like our Messiah, Yeshua, who came
down to seek lost men. The house was
dark, even in the day. This reinforces the thought that she was poor. Not much
light came into her house, even in the day. This world is very dark and Yeshua
came down to us. She lights a light. Yeshua IS light and the light we receive
is the knowledge of Himself. She cleans... taking the light everywhere.
Finally, finding the lost drachma, she calls her friends to rejoice with her.
They would have known the exact circumstances she was in, living in similar
circumstances next to her. To call them, in Jewish society, she would have had
to show them hospitality, which would even likely exceeded the value of the
drachma. This is like Yeshua calling the angels and archangels, cherubim and
seraphim to rejoice with Him over the finding of one sinner.
.
The
headdress notably held ten coins. Ten in Scripture is the number of completion
and fullness, like the Ten Commandments. Each soul is infinitely valuable to
God, even the publicans and others the community despised. The Kingdom is not complete without them.
What a beautiful thought that the dowry (us) for the Bride (the body of Messiah) is not complete
without every one of us!
.
We need
to be like the woman to take the light into every corner of the house to find those
who are lost!
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"Likewise,
I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner
that repents!" Yeshua was
showing His infinite care and love for those others despised. Do we?
