ee with the authors that explained how each type of soil represented types of people and how they acted faithfully. The parable of the lost coin is in the Gospel of Luke, chapter fifteen, verses eight through ten. This parable comes right after the parable of the lost sheep and “the point is that God takes special delight in the restoration of the sinner who has been lost from his People.” (Nolland, 776) It sets forth the work of the Church in seeking and reclaiming the lost. (Dummelow, 758) This parable and the one before it show that “God’s love seeks the lost and rejoices at their redemption.” (Laymon, 694) In verse eight, Jesus describes a woman who has ten silver coins, also known as drachmas. A drachma was the wage of a laborer for a whole day of hard work. The amount of coins she has shows that she must have been saving for almost a month. She loses one of them, turns on a lamp, and sweeps the house looking for it. (Clarke, 457; Clifton, 124; D, 758; Laymon, 694; Lenski, 804; N, 776) Dummelow and Lenski say that the woman is a symbol of the church, and the drachmas are the human souls that she keeps. “The lost piece is a soul that has fallen from grace through her negligence.” The lamp is showing her lighting a candle to exercise the ministry of the Word. “This brings back her lost soul to a state of grace.” (Dummelow, 758) However, Clarke says the drachma was a symbol of a sinner who has drifted away from God, “and enslaved to habits of iniquity. The lamp represents a lantern to her steps in finding and receiving the Spirit, which is a light to the soul. And when she sweeps the house, she is putting away her evil doings. (Clarke, 457) “The coins probably represent savings that would cushion the family against days that income did not come in. The one coin represents a significant part of her savings.” Clifton shows the woman as very po...
