✨WEB · Luke 15:9
What does Luke 15:9 mean?
"When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’"
— Luke 15:9 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’
I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?
When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’
Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”
He said, “A certain man had two sons.
The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ He divided his livelihood between them.
Explanation
Luke 15:9 comes near the end of the short parable of the lost coin, one of three "lost and found" parables Jesus tells in Luke 15—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost (prodigal) son. In this verse, a woman who has lost one of ten silver coins (drachmas), after lighting a lamp, sweeping her house, and searching carefully, finally finds it. Her response is immediate and communal: she doesn't celebrate quietly by herself but calls together her friends and neighbors to share her joy, saying, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost."
The context matters a great deal for understanding this verse rightly. Luke opens chapter 15 by noting that tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus to listen to him, which provoked grumbling from the Pharisees and scribes: "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." In response, Jesus tells three parables in a row, each illustrating the same point from a different angle. The lost coin parable specifically pictures a woman searching diligently for something of real value that had gone missing through no particular fault of its own—coins don't wander off the way sheep do; they simply get lost, perhaps swept into a corner or dropped in the dark. The single drachma represented a day's wages, so its loss was significant to a woman likely of modest means.
Theologically, the verse (and the parable it concludes) makes a striking point about the nature of God. Jesus explicitly interprets it in the following verse: "even so, I tell you, there is jo
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