Sabbath Day Thoughts — “Lucky Pennies” Luke 15:1-10
The U.S. Mint is winding down production of pennies and will stop minting them entirely in early 2026. The penny has been under attack for decades, ever since lawmakers realized that the 3.69 cents that it costs to make a penny is much more than the coin is worth. A lucky penny on a sidewalk once made our eyes light up and our hands reach down to pick it up. Nowadays, most folks feel it isn’t worth their time. Former US Mint Director Philip Diehl says that the value of the penny on the sidewalk “has shrunk to the point that, if you earn more than minimum wage, you’re losing money [by] stopping and picking [it] up.”
It wasn’t always that way. If you have lived long enough, you may remember the days when a penny inserted into the gumball machine outside the grocery store got you a beautiful, round, candy-coated ball of chewing gum goodness. Or, a bright, shiny, new copper penny was the perfect accessory for your penny loafers. Or, the penny clutched in your small, sweaty hand got you the penny candy of your choice. Or, you delighted in the sound of a penny falling into your piggy bank or dropping into a fountain as you made a wish. David Hartgrove, who grew up in Miami in the 1950s, remembers collecting glass bottles on his walk to school. One bottle got him three cents, which he spent on candy, feeling “like a king” for about a half hour.
It isn’t only pennies that we deem of little value these days. In 2023, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reported collecting approximately $956,253.38 in small change left behind at airport security checkpoints. The Covanta Holding Company, which gleans discarded coins from the 250 million tons of garbage that we send to landfills each year, reports that Americans throw away an estimated $62 million in coins each year. That’s not chump change.
In our reading from the fifteenth chapter of Luke, Jesus describes a persistent woman who searches diligently for a lost coin. It’s the second of three parables that Jesus told when the scribes and Pharisees grumbled about his outrageous hospitality, saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
According to tradition, the immorality of Jesus’ dinner companions was a problem for everyone because it separated them from God and neighbor. Sin rendered the sinner unclean and unholy. Anyone with good sense avoided sinners until they turned their lives around and practiced the proper rituals and sacrifices to restore God’s favor and return them to their place in the community of the righteous. Now, an observant rabbi might exhort a sinner to repentance, but he would fear doing what Jesus did, sitting down at the table with them. That kind of careless behavior might render the rabbi unclean. In fact, it might contaminate the whole community. What rabbi in their right mind would jeopardize his community’s relationship with God? It’s no wonder that the scribes and Pharisees were scandalized and worried. They saw Jesus’ table fellowship as a risk to everyone’s salvation. Jesus’ parables call into question those pious assumptions of his critics.
So, how about that poor, persistent woman that Jesus described? Losing one of ten coins, she goes to extraordinary lengths to find it. She lights a lamp and burns precious oil, searching and sweeping the house. She moves all the furniture, makes her kids crawl around on their hands and knees. She pokes her broom into every crevice and cranny. When she finds the errant coin, she lets out a whoop of rejoicing.
What happens next is really outrageous. The woman hosts a party in celebration of the lost coin. She invites all her friends and neighbors, cooks up a storm, and insists that everyone celebrate with her. Her impromptu party costs more than the no-longer-lost coin is worth, and that leaves her guests wondering if the coin wasn’t the only thing that got lost. Maybe she lost her marbles.
Jesus says that this persistent woman is what God is like. One of God’s highest priorities and greatest joys is the recovery of what has been lost. God is always reaching out to sinful and fallen people with amazing grace and unmerited love. Jesus may have told three parables in the fifteenth chapter of Luke to make this point, but truly his whole life was a parable of God’s unstoppable love that will not let us go. No matter how lost we may be, God so longs to be reconciled with us that God is willing to become flesh and die for us. God is willing to get down and dirty, to pick us up and dust us off, to say, “Let me tell you just how much I love you, my lost friend.”
That’s the best news ever because, if we are deeply honest, we’ll admit that we can all be lost. We have all had times when we have languished in the dark, short on the hope that anyone will value us enough to seeks us and save us. Perhaps even now we are thinking of our lost places. We’ve been hooked on alcohol or prescription meds, food or lust. We’ve made idols of work or nation, money or guns. We’ve behaved badly in broken and destructive relationships. We’ve gotten sucked into the dysfunction of our extended families—and we may even pass it on to the next generation. We’ve been mired in debt and caught up in consuming. We’ve been lost in grief or depression, rebelliousness or anxiety. At times, we’ve even gotten lost like the scribes and Pharisees. We judge and draw lines. We may even exclude or oppress others because we think we’ve got a lock on righteousness.
We all know just how bad it feels to be lost, and how desperately we long to be found. We need Jesus to see us for who we are in all our sinful frailty. We need Jesus to remind us that God believes we are worthy of the costly search, the saving grace, and the outrageous celebration. We need Jesus to seek us like a good shepherd, a persistent woman, the best father. We need Jesus to find us with rejoicing.
If we listen with the ear of our heart this morning, we may hear the sounds of a party. The lamp is lit. The table is spread with a bountiful feast—freshly baked bread and roasted meats, salads and side dishes, a cake with candles blazing. The music is playing and the kids are doing the electric slide on the newly swept floor. Jesus is the host and we, my friends, are the guests, no longer lost but loved, cherished, and welcomed with a shout of rejoicing. The lost coin is once again a lucky penny. Can we imagine it?
82-year-old Otha Anders began collecting lost coins and spare change around his Ruston, Louisiana home in the 1970s. Eventually, his coin collection filled an impressive fifteen five-gallon plastic water jugs. When Otha was forced to cash in his change to pay for some expensive dental work about ten years ago, he discovered that those lost and little regarded coins added up to $5,130. Now, that’s not chump change.
Otha isn’t happy about the demise of the little-loved penny because pennies mean a lot to him. Their value far exceeds the face value—or even the 3.69 cents that it costs to mint one. Otha says that whenever he spots a penny on the street or gets one back in change, he sees it as a reminder to thank God. $5,130—that’s a lot of thanks giving. Otha says, “I’d give you a dollar before I would give you a penny.”
I think Otha has a point, even if it doesn’t make good financial sense. Perhaps the next time we’re about to step over that penny on the sidewalk, we’ll stop. We’ll bend down. We’ll pick it up. Perhaps the next time we see a lost coin, we’ll remember Otha Anders. We’ll remember that persistent woman. We’ll remember Jesus, who told us all about God’s unstoppable love that will not let us go, no matter how lost we may be. Thank you, Lord.
Resources:
E. Trey Clark. “Commentary on Luke 15:1-10” in Preaching This Week, Sept. 14, 2025. Accessed online at Commentary on Luke 15:1-10 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary
Rachel Treisman. “Are Pennies Worth It?” NPR News, Feb. 10, 2025. Accessed online at www.ypradio.org/npr-news/2025-02-10
Aimee Picchi. “Americans Throw Away $62 Million in Coins Each Year” in CBS News Money Watch, Oct. 18, 2016. Accessed online at www.cbsnews.com
Karissa Waddick. “Penny for Their Thoughts” in USA Today, Feb. 10, 2025. Accessed online at www.usatoday.com
Jenna Busch. Passengers Leave a Staggering Amount of Cash Behind at TSA Screening Checkpoints in Islands, May 31, 2025. Accessed online at Passengers Leave A Staggering Amount Of Cash Behind At TSA Screening Checkpoints, Here’s Where It Goes
Luke 15:1-10
15 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Joann White 