“What woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents?”
I lose things all the time. This past week, I lost my car key. I spent nearly all of Saturday trying to think about where I placed, when was the last time I saw it, what clothes I had on at the time. Finally, after hours of scouring, I found it. I proudly walked up to the family holding the key over my head.
In Luke 15, Jesus tells us a story about a woman who has 10 coins, but loses 1. She spent the afternoon searching for that 1 coin. Much like me, she retraced her steps, searching carefully to find the coin. Then upon finding that coin, she calls her neighbors to rejoice.
Imagine if I called my neighbors when I found my car key. I think they would have wondered who this weirdo is that moved into our neighborhood. Yet for some reason this is part of Christ’s parable to us.
The good news of the gospel—the fact that God searches out and saves the lost—is such good news that it cannot be contained. It forces us to “rejoice” with one another. The Christian movement has always been built upon this personal relationship that gather us together to rejoice over the work of God within and around our lives. Christianity was never meant to be a private affair, but a public witness of God’s amazing love.
When you have good news to share, who do you call? Why do you think we are hesitant to share the good news of our faith? Can you do it with genuine love and joy for God’s work in your life? What is something worth rejoicing in your life that you can “call together [your] friends and neighbors saying, ‘Rejoice with me?’”
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