Luke 15:8-10

Luke 15:8-10

[8] Either  what  woman  having  ten  pieces of silver,  if  she lose  piece,  doth not  light  a candle,  and  sweep  the house,  and  seek  diligently  till  she find  [9] And  when she hath found  her friends  and  her neighbours  together,  saying,  Rejoice  for  I have found  the piece  which  I had lost.  [10] Likewise,  I say  there is  joy  in the presence  of the angels  of God  over  one  sinner  that repenteth. 

What does Luke 15:8-10 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Jesus" repetition of the same point in another similar parable shows the importance of the lesson He wanted His hearers to learn.
Again Jesus" concern for women comes out in this illustration with which His female listeners could identify. The silver coins in view would have been Greek drachmas, the equivalent of Roman denarii, each worth about a day"s wage. They may have been part of the dowry or the savings that some Palestinian women wore around their heads on a chain. [1] In any case the coin she lost was precious to her even though it did not represent great wealth. Its value is clear from the trouble to which she went to find it. The sheep was lost because of its foolishness ( Luke 15:4), but the coin was lost because of the woman"s carelessness, through no fault of its own but by surrounding circumstances. Peasants" houses in Palestine normally had no windows, so she needed to get a lamp to help her see. [2] Similarly it cost Jesus much to seek and to save the lost. God actually searches for lost sinners (cf. Genesis 3:8-9)! The woman"s recovery of what had been lost led to great joy and rejoicing. [3]
This parable repeated the point of the previous one, namely, that there is rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents. However, it also stresses the fact that God willingly goes to great lengths to seek out and to find the lost. This attitude contrasts with that of the Pharisees and lawyers ( Luke 15:2). According to Morris, there is no rabbinic equivalent to God seeking sinners. [4]
An almost identical parable to this one was common among the Jews of Jesus" day. [5] However, in the Jewish parable, the moral was that a person should search the Torah more diligently than this woman searched for her lost coin, since Torah study would yield an eternal reward, not just temporal enjoyment. It taught the merit of works, whereas Jesus" parable taught the compassion of the Savior and the joy in heaven over the salvation of the lost.
Perhaps Jesus intended to focus on the Jews in the first parable since He compared the lost one to a sheep from the Master"s fold. The second parable may compare the lost coin to a Gentile since a Greek coin was lost. This is the only reference to this coin in the New Testament. If Song of Solomon , the numbers may be significant. Only a small number of Jews would experience salvation compared to the greater proportion of Gentiles who would believe the gospel. The Book of Acts reveals the comparative unresponsiveness of the Jews and the receptivity of the Gentiles.