The OTHER Parable
If you’re like me, you have heard lots of teaching about the lost sheep, where the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep and goes after the one, and even more teaching about the father and the prodigal son who returns. How often do we hear teaching about the woman who lost a coin and found it? Do you realize that all three of these parables are in Luke 15? The parable of the woman with the coins is in between the one about the Good Shepherd and the Good Father (Luke 15:8-10).
In my devotional time, I am systematically reading through the book of Luke in The Passion Translation. I read a footnote for this parable and was struck with something I had never heard or thought before. All three of these parables are showing us what God is like. He is the Good Shepherd who cares about the lost sheep. He is the Good Father who longs, waits for, and welcomes his prodigal son home. He is ALSO the woman who cleans her entire home, looking for the one missing coin and then celebrating with her friends when it is found.
In Luke 15: 10, Jesus says in response to the woman finding her lost coin:
That’s the way God responds every time one lost sinner repents and turns to him. He says to all his angels, “Let’s have a joyous celebration for the one who was lost I have found!”
Dr. Brian Simmons, the author of The Passion Bible (also known as The Passion Translation), writes this as a footnote to this verse: Jesus used the woman in this parable as a metaphor for God. This alone would incite anger from the Pharisees.
Why have I never noticed or thought of this before? God is compared to a woman! We know that many women followed Jesus and listened to His teachings. In Luke 8:1-3, we read of these women and how some even supported Him financially from their own means. I’m thinking that Jesus was looking at them when He spoke this parable. Just like He told stories about fishermen, farmers, and shepherds who would have been following Him, He also had a story for the women followers–something they could relate to.
The parable speaks about a woman losing something valuable and thoroughly cleaning her home to find it. Speaking as a woman, I can totally relate to the amount of work and the frenzy of searching that would have taken place. I think I would have called up my friends to pray that I find it, and then would have called to celebrate with them when it was found–just like the woman in the story!
What delights me about this is that it shows me how much God values and acknowledges women. It also reminds me that together, male and female are a reflection of God, and so He does not mind comparing Himself to a woman in this instance.
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 NIV
I’m sure that there are many more layers of meaning that can be gleaned from this parable of the woman with the lost coins, but for today, I want to say thank You to our Heavenly Father for showing us how much He loves us—both men and women. Thank You also to Jesus, for modeling to us His value of women; that He sees and addresses us all. May we also have our eyes and hearts opened to minister to the diversity of people around us, like Jesus did.
