Between the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son is this gem: The Lost Coin. A woman having ten pieces of silver loses one. She lights a candle, sweeps the house and seeks “diligently” to find it. (see Luke 15:8). When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together to celebrate, saying: “Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost” (Luke 15:9). Christ likens the woman’s joy to the joy of angels when one sinner repents.
The lost “coin” is not unstamped bullion nor merely ornament. From the original text the word used is “drachma,” a silver coin of the realm. Recognized throughout the Roman empire, this coin was easily exchanged for value in Judea and the Mediterranean.
Apparently the lost coin represented one-tenth of her wealth as implied by the woman’s diligent search. It is therefore rich in symbolism, not only for things of value, but souls of value–be they converts who have lost their way, those who have not yet been converted, or those whose shortcomings (lost values) need restoration by diligently seeking.
Note that unlike the Parable of the Lost Sheep who had strayed of their own volition, the woman lost her precious coin through carelessness. In sweeping the house during her diligent search, perhaps she learns of a “dirty corner, dusty recesses, cobwebby nooks to which she had been oblivious in her self-complacency as an outwardly clean and conventional housewife” (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, Deseret Book Company, September, 1915, p.424).
Not only is her search rewarded by finding that which had been lost, but her house undergoes a cleansing in the process. Perhaps this transformation could not have taken place without the urgency of the search. The house could well represent parts of our character, or callings or family life which can only be improved and cleansed in the urgent work of recovery and attention to “that which was lost.”
The woman represents the theocracy of the time and the Church as an institution in all ages. (see Talmage, Id).The pieces of silver, every one genuine, bear the image of the great King: These are the souls committed by Christ to the care of the Church. The lost piece symbolizes neglected souls, who, for a time, are lost to the sight of Christ’s authorized ministers. The coin may also represent parts of our character which complete the whole.
Only by diligently seeking to find that which by neglect has been lost, can we recover precious souls entrusted to our watchcare. This is also true of losing parts of our character, which, when found again, completes our discipleship.
We have all felt the anguish of losing a precious childhood toy–a thing of little earthly value–yet priceless in its ability to brighten the blackness of night and increase the joy of our unbuttoned play. Imagine our joy in retrieving something of eternal value: the lost children of Heavenly Father’s House and the missing measure of the fullness of our eternal stature.
