Luke 15:8-10

THE LOST MONEY

Luke 15:8-10. “ A certain woman having ten drachmae, if she may lose one drachma, does she not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently until she may find it? And having found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, because I found the drachma which I lost. So I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” This drachma was a Grecian coin, worth fifteen cents. So the woman has a dollar and a half, equivalent in our time to about ten dollars. This woman, as uniformly in the Bible, symbolizes the Church, whose the and power is the Holy Ghost. This coin, of course, typifies the sinner, whose soul is of infinite value, yet utterly lost and covered up with the rubbish of human depravity, and overshadowed by the thorns and brambles of actual sin. See this woman with her broom, alertly moving into all parts of her house, searching every nook and corner, removing all the dust and trash; going out into the premises, and ransacking every place where there is the slightest probability that she may have dropped the money in her precipitate haste. This is precisely what the Church, filled with the Holy Ghost, would do in the case of every lost soul. While this piece of money was intrinsically as valuable as ever, so long as it was lost it was utterly destitute of commercial value; thus beautifully illustrating the soul of the sinner, destined to live through the flight of eternal ages, and of so infinite value that it cost the blood of Jesus, and yet utterly lost, worthless, and unavailable i.e., destitute of commercial value in all the heavenly bazaars so long as it is thus lost. amid the soot and rubbish of sin. How quickly would the world be captured for Christ if every Church member would do like this woman! And they would if they only had the Holy Ghost. Really, all of this searching is done by the blessed Holy Spirit, but largely through human instrumentality. O what a grand open door, to take our brooms and join this woman in the search for these infinitely valuable coins, which are lying all around us, covered up in the dust and trash which demons have piled on them! The angels around the Throne are ready to rejoice with us whenever we find a piece of this lost money. This is the treasure we are to lay up in heaven, where it will accumulate new luster. and shine in our crowns of rejoicing when gold, pearls, and diamonds shall have lost their glitter and ceased to sparkle.