Parable of the Lost Coin

Text and Content

This parable appears only in the Gospel of Luke, at Luke 15:8-10. A woman who has ten drachmas loses one of them. She lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches diligently until she finds it. When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and asks them to rejoice with her. Jesus concludes the story by saying, "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth" (Luke 15:10).

Luke 15 opens with tax collectors and sinners drawing near to Jesus. Seeing this, the Pharisees and scribes complain that Jesus receives sinners and eats with them (Luke 15:1-2). In response, Jesus tells three parables in succession: the Parable of the Lost Sheep (15:3-7), this parable, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son (15:11-32). The Parable of the Lost Sheep also appears in a similar form in Matthew 18, but the Parable of the Lost Coin is found only in Luke.

Background

The drachma was a Greek silver coin. It is commonly described as roughly equal in value to the Roman silver denarius, which Matthew 20:2 presents as a laborer's daily wage.

The homes of ordinary people in Palestine at the time are commonly described as having small windows and dark interiors. The woman's lighting a lamp and sweeping the floor is often read in light of these conditions.

Sermons frequently repeat the explanation that the ten drachmas were part of a bride's dowry or headdress. This, however, is a conjecture based on later studies of customs, and the text itself makes no such reference.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

All three parables share the same sequence: "lost → found → rejoicing together." The proportion of what is lost progressively grows: one of a hundred sheep, one of ten coins, one of two sons. Correspondingly, the weight of what is lost increases.

In the Parable of the Lost Sheep the seeker is a male shepherd, whereas in this parable the seeker is a woman. On this basis, some interpreters hold that God's seeking love is portrayed through the everyday lives of both men and women. This parable is also often read alongside Jesus' statement of His mission, that He came to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).

Interpretation and Points of Discussion

• The seeker and repentance: A coin cannot return on its own. On this point, the Calvinist tradition emphasizes that salvation begins with God's initiating grace. The Wesleyan and Arminian traditions, by contrast, note that verse 10 explicitly speaks of the sinner's repentance, and they therefore also emphasize the human response to grace.
• Allegorical interpretation: In the patristic and medieval periods, some interpreters took the woman to represent the Church, the Holy Spirit, or the Wisdom of God, and the lamp to represent the Word. Many commentators today, rather than seeking a symbol in every detail, focus on the central message of the joy of finding what was lost.
• "Lost within the house": Many sermons apply the fact that the coin was lost inside the house rather than outside it to church members who have drifted away while still within the church. This is a homiletical application, not something the text directly states.