Luke 15:9

Third, as regards the lovingkindness toward restored humanity, he adds: And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors. By the friends and neighbors of divine wisdom are understood the good Angels and holy souls. Whence the Gloss: "The friends and …

"And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying: Rejoice with me, because I have found the drachma which I had lost." Who are these friends or neighbors except those heavenly powers already mentioned above? They are so close to the supreme Wisdom because they approach Him through the grace of continual vision. But among these things we should by no means carelessly overlook why this woman, through whom the wisdom of God is figured, is said to have had ten drachmas, of which she lost one, which she found when she searched for it. For the Lord created the nature of angels and men to know Him, and when He willed it to endure unto eternity, He without doubt created it in His own likeness. The woman had ten drachmas because there are nine orders of angels. But so that the number of the elect might be completed, man was created as the tenth, who did not perish from his Creator even after his sin, because eternal Wisdom, flashing with miracles through the flesh, restored him by the light of the earthen vessel.

And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost." Who are these friends and neighbors but those heavenly powers previously mentioned? They are as close to heavenly …

And "the drachma," that is, the royal image, "was found," and there was joy both for Christ Himself who found it and for the Heavenly Powers, who are His friends and neighbors: "friends," since they do His will; "neighbors," since they are bodiless. And I …

Either they are friends as performing His will, but neighbours as being spiritual; or perhaps His friends are all the heavenly powers, but His neighbours those that come near to Him, as Thrones, Cherubims, and Seraphims.

Observe, (1.) The repentance and conversion of sinners on earth are matter of joy and rejoicing in heaven. It is possible that the greatest sinners may be brought to repentance. While there is life there is hope, and the worst are not to be despaired of; and the worst of sinners, if they repent and turn, shall find mercy.

She was glad that she had found the piece of money, though she should spend it in entertaining those whom she called to make merry with her. The pleasing surprise of finding it put her, for the present, into a kind of transport, heureka, heureka -- I have found, I have found, is the language of joy. The explication of these two parables is to the same purport (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends,....

Of the lost son that had been a prodigal, but returned to his father's house, and was received with great joy, though his elder brother, like these scribes and Pharisees, was offended at it,

The chapter which begins with these verses, is as well known to Bible readers as any. Few chapters perhaps have done more good to the souls of men. Let us take heed that it does good to us. We should first observe in these verses — the striking testimony which was borne to our Lord by His enemies. We read that when "all the publicans and sinners drew near to hear Him, the Scribes and Pharisees murmured, saying: This man receives sinners, and eats with them!"

The chapter which begins with these verses, is as well known to Bible readers as any. Few chapters perhaps have done more good to the souls of men. Let us take heed that it does good to us. We should first observe in these verses — the striking testimony which was borne to our Lord by His enemies. We read that when "all the publicans and sinners drew near to hear Him, the Scribes and Pharisees murmured, saying: This man receives sinners, and eats with them!" These words were evidently spoken with surprise and scorn — and not with pleasure and admiration. These ignorant guides of the Jews could not understand a religious preacher having anything to do with wicked people! Yet their words worked for good. The very saying which was meant for a reproach — was adopted by the Lord Jesus as a true description of His ministry. It led to His speaking three of the most instructive parables which ever fell from His lips. The testimony of the Scribes and Pharisees was strictly and literally true — the Lord Jesus is indeed one who "receives sinners." He receives them — to pardon them, to sanctify them, and to make them fit for Heaven. It is His special office to do so. For this end He came into the world. He came not to call the righteous — but sinners to repentance. He came into the world to save sinners . What He was upon earth — He is now at the right hand of God, and will be to all eternity. He is emphatically the sinner's Friend. Have we any sense of sin? Do we feel bad, and wicked, and guilty, and deserving of God's wrath? Is the remembrance of our past lives, bitter to us? Does the recollection of our past conduct, make us ashamed? Then we are the very people who ought to apply to Christ — just as we are, pleading nothing good of our own, and making no useless delay. Christ will receive us graciously, pardon us freely, and give us eternal life.

THIS CHAPTER IS FULL OF GRACE and truth. Its three consecutive parables have been thought to be merely a repetition of the same doctrine under different metaphors, and if that were so, the truth which it teaches is so important that it could not be rehearsed too often in our hearing. Moreover, it is one which we are apt to forget, and it is well to have it again and again impressed upon our minds.

THIS CHAPTER IS FULL OF GRACE and truth. Its three consecutive parables have been thought to be merely a repetition of the same doctrine under different metaphors, and if that were so, the truth which it teaches is so important that it could not be rehearsed too often in our hearing. Moreover, it is one which we are apt to forget, and it is well to have it again and again impressed upon our minds. The truth here taught is just this—that mercy stretches forth her hand to misery, that grace receives men as sinners, that it deals with demerit, unworthiness, and worthlessness; that those who think themselves righteous are not the objects of divine compassion, but the unrighteous, the guilty, and the undeserving, are the proper subjects for the infinite mercy of God; in a word, that salvation is not of merit but of grace. This truth I say is most important, for it encourages penitents to return to their Father; but it is very apt to be forgotten, for even those who are saved by grace too often fall into the spirit of the elder brother, and speak as if, after all, their salvation depended on the works of the law. But, my dear friends, the three parables recorded in this chapter are not repetitions; they all declare the same main truth, but each one reveals a different phase of it. The three parables are three sides of a vast pyramid of gospel doctrine, but there is a distinct inscription upon each. Not only in the similitude, but also in the teaching covered by the similitude, there is variety, progress, enlargement, discrimination. We have only need to read attentively to discover that in this trinity of parables, we have at once unity of essential truth and distinctness of description. Each one of the parables is needful to the other, and when combined they present us with a far more complete exposition of their doctrine than could have been conveyed by any one of them.