The following is an excerpt from an online commentary on the Bible Gateway website, regarding Luke 15's parables of the rejoicing that happens when something (sheep, money) is found after an earnest search:
"These parables introduce the importance of sinners for Jesus, and thus for disciples. The parable's drama is built on the tension of an attempt to find something that has been lost. Anyone who has lost anything or loses anything on a regular basis can identify with this tension. In our house it is keys and the remote control for the television that most often go AWOL. At such times an all-points bulletin sends my children on a hunt for what their absent-minded father has misplaced. When it is found, all are relieved. So in these parables with the sheep and the coin."
The "found money" parable is just another example of the female-focus of Luke. I think every woman stashes away money. Diane certainly did. While looking hither and yon for the "in event of my death" letters she wrote (I eventually found the notes for Tim and Imani), I found several hundred dollars in drawers, lockboxes, etc.! I doubt there's a married woman alive who doesn't do the same....not sure what that says about the men!
But of course the real point of the story isn't financial security, it's eternal joy at the return of the sinner who once was lost, but now is found. (Sounds like a good line for a song......) The concept is beautifully, uniquely, timelessly developed in the ageless parable of the Prodigal Son. Not for nothing is the term "prodigal son" a common phrase in the English language, 20 centuries after Jesus first told the story. I'm a prodigal son - we all are. What a wonderful savior is Jesus my Lord.
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