24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Here we have another parable about searching and finding. In Jesus' time, when a woman got married, her husband gave her a present--a necklace made of 10 silver coins. A sign of their love.
I wonder why the woman was so concerned about losing one coin. She still had 9 others. We have to remember why was the necklace was special to her. It was important to her that she had the complete set, that the necklace was whole.
So what did she do when one coin was lost? She lit a lamp and swept the whole house, so that the whole place would have become clean. How long did she search? Until.
I wonder what the coin looked like in the light of the lamp? Remember, all the dust and dirt would have been swept off of it. How clean it would be! How it would sparkle in the light!
Could that coin do anything to be found? It's not like the sheep that was found, because it couldn't walk or call out. It could only lie there until the broom swept off the dirt and uncovered it.
We know that when Jesus tells a parable it is like a little mystery. We have to think about what more Jesus could mean.
So I wonder who that coin could be, who needs to be found? Could the coin be us? Can we get separated from the necklace, the sign of love? What, then, would the dirt covering the coin be, that the woman sweeps off? I wonder if the dirt could be like our bad choices, our sins, that block the Holy Spirit from flowing within us? Can we clean ourselves from our sins? Only God can do that. Then who is that woman sweeping the house? And remember her lamp? Whose light is that?
Don't we shine when the light of God shines on us?