The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin

Who doesn’t love a good story? Especially the kind that leaves you thinking long after it’s over.

Parables are stories like that. Jesus told parables about sheep, vineyards, workers, and bosses. At the same time, he was speaking about things like pride, risk, joy, and grace.

But there is more to these parable stories. Jesus told parables not only to enhance understanding but also to change the people who hear them and think about them. Jesus used parables as interpretive lenses to help people see themselves in relation to God and his kingdom. Parables are about Jesus’ listeners and their blind spots, hopes, and fears, and what God is doing in the middle of it all. They help you see yourself in God’s story.

The agony of the loss

Consider the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin in Luke 15:1-10. If you’ve ever lost your keys, wallet, or phone, you can probably relate to the shepherd and woman whom Jesus tells us about.

Shepherds in the ancient Near East gathered their sheep into a pen each evening and counted them. In this story, the shepherd has 99 sheep, but he’s supposed to have 100. The shepherd has a decision to make. Does he search for the missing sheep or not? The shepherd would have many reasons for not wanting to go look for his sheep. It was about to be dark. There could be predators. There could be thieves. The lost sheep amounts to only 1 percent of the flock. The search could be for naught.

For the woman, the stakes were a little higher. She lost a drachma, a coin that amounted to a day’s wages, but she had nine more. Maybe the coin would just show up. Trying to find that coin could also be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

But who of you, Jesus asks, if you lost a sheep, would not go and search for it? Who of you, if you lost a day’s wages, would not go and search for it? And who of you, if you lost your wallet or your keys, would not go and search for it?

But there’s more to the story. Jesus wasn’t talking about only sheep and coins, and I’m not talking about a wallet and keys. We’re talking about people.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law had a problem with Jesus. He was associating with tax collectors and sinners, people of unsavory repute. But Jesus wasn’t going to skid row purposefully to scandalize the Jewish religious leaders. He was proclaiming good news to the poor and freedom for the prisoners.

Still, should Jesus have spent time with people like that? You know the kind. The kind of people who make you shake your head. The kind of people you try to avoid. The kind of people you have predetermined that it is impossible for them to come to faith. We all know tax collectors and sinners. We all know people who are lost, and we know it would be easier not to search for and find them.

The decision to search

So why did the shepherd go searching for his lost sheep when it would have been more convenient not to? Because the sheep was lost, and it was not going to find its own way back. The sheep did not know where it was. The sheep maybe didn’t even care if it was lost. The only way for that sheep to be brought back to the flock was if the shepherd went out to find it.

Why did the woman search for her coin? Because the coin wasn’t going to just show up. It was lost, and she had to find it by lighting a lamp and sweeping her house.

But there’s more to the story because we’re not just talking about a coin or a sheep. We’re talking about people.

Saying that people are lost may sound judgmental, but we say people are lost because Jesus said as much. We say it because their situation is dire. If they are lost, then they are not going to find their way to God all by themselves. Lost sheep and coins do not find their owners. What is lost must be found.

If we are going to say with seriousness and humility that people are lost, then we need to recognize that we were once lost as well. It is only by God’s grace that we were found. There was no way we were going to find God. There was no way we were suddenly going to get an inkling of where home is. We were lost, but Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost.

And when the lost are found, he rejoices over them.

The joy in discovery

The rejoicing in these parables is one of the more remarkable things about them. When I found my lost wallet, I never knocked on my neighbors’ doors to invite them over for a party. Yet the shepherd and the woman are so overjoyed at finding what was lost that they can’t keep their joy to themselves.

But again, we’re not really talking about a sheep and a coin. We are talking about people.

Before God, there are only two kinds of people—those who are lost and those who have been found. God wants those who are lost to be found. When they are found, there is rejoicing in heaven and on earth.

What does sharing in that kind of rejoicing look like? We recognize that we ourselves were lost, but we were found by God’s grace. We go after those who are lost because we know how dire their situation is. We search even if it may be easier not to search. And when what was lost is found, we rejoice because we all have been made a part of God’s saving story.

This is the first article in a six-part series on Jesus’ parables found in the book of Luke.

Illustrations | Corissa Nelson

Author: Aaron Goetzinger
Volume 113, Number 06
Issue: June 2026

What is a parable?

A parable is often defined as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” Let’s consider the two halves of that definition.

Jesus’ parables take place on earth, but his stories are more a reflection of reality than a photorealistic depiction. An element of a parable may not make sense to us—and not just because we live in a different time and place (for example, the rejoicing on the part of the shepherd and the woman in Luke chapter 15). Those nonsensical elements are in the parable to slow us down and make us think about what Jesus is saying.

Jesus’ parables convey a heavenly meaning in that they reveal a theological truth. But Jesus’ parables are not merely extended illustrations intended to help listeners understand a piece of trivia.

Parables are told to be mulled over in the mind of the listener. Through the parable, the listener is led to think about the things of God, granted insight into God’s kingdom, and even moved to action. Jesus’ parables are narrative analogies that are intended to change the listener.