Value of One
In this story of the ten coins, this lady literally begins to dig up the floor. They had dirt floors so this woman had the shovel out and was digging up the floor looking for this silver coin. She has nine more. It's going to cost her more tearing up her house than the value of one coin, so what's the big deal? In the Middle Eastern culture little girls would save ten silver coins of this same type. When they were married they would sew those ten coins into their headdress. Have you ever seen Middle Eastern women with coins hanging down over their eyes on a headdress? It is a symbol that they are married. So in today's culture to lose one of those coins would be like losing your wedding ring. There is no monetary value you could place on my wedding ring. It has been on my finger for almost twenty-nine years - not off for one second. I'd tear down my house for this wedding ring. But there is a deeper significance to this story. A wedding ring is about covenant and the one who is lost is about God's covenant with humanity. Think about this for a minute. For God so loved, Northern Americans? For God so loved Christians? No, for God so loved the world that God sent God's only son. And God's not willing that ANY should perish. How many is any? Does that mean none? God is not willing that any should perish but all come to life. Not only that, but the scripture following this says that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world may be saved through him. The value of that one coin is about God's covenant, and that God didn't create throwaways. Everyone is included and God doesn't rest until everyone is at the party.
Look at what Jesus demonstrates, look at the people that Jesus hung out with. Jesus was the holiest person who ever lived, yet it was the prostitutes, the thieves, and the diseased who loved him and the religious folks who hated him. The Son of God visited planet Earth and the chief complaint about him was that he wasn't religious enough! He redefined what it meant to be an important person. He broke all the rules. You know the Pharisees were serious about God. So they knew lust was a bad thing. But they thought that lust came from the outside and they didn't understand that it was a condition of the heart. There was a group of Pharisees called the bloodied and the bruised. They didn't want to lust, so when they walked down the street and saw a woman they would close their eyes until they walked past the woman. Do you see why they called them bloody and bruised? After they bounced off about three walls they opened their eyes and there stood Jesus talking to a prostitute. He redefined what it meant to be an important person. No one is insignificant. He broke all the rules. This guy touched the lepers. Because he wasn't committed to rules and regulations, he was committed to God and had compassion for people. He held children on his lap. He talked to women of ill repute. God is extravagantly in love with all people, everyone is someone to God. Religious people didn't get it.

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