Hochhalter, Cara B.. A Parable - The Lost Coin, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59283 [retrieved June 22, 2026]. Original source: Cara B. Hochhalter.
Oboedire | June 23, 2026
In our exploration of big-picture items in the spiritual life, we inevitably come to the need to look at those times when we are not in sync with them. As Jesus’ parables in Luke 15 show, this can happen in more than one way. The story of loss is told around everyone’s campfire on the journey. The need for correction never goes away.
Jesus’ parables provide the Christian vantage point for the much older story of the loss and recovery of mindfulness (i.e. abundant living) taught in the world’s religions. Like sheep we experience loss because of our carelessness. Like coins we can become lost because of the actions of others. Like the younger son we can find ourselves “in a far country” through concrete decisions we make to live contrary to the highest and best we know. And even as older sons who stay put, we can lose out on life through the cold-heart sins of resentment and faux supremacy.
These defaults may be part of the “dark valley” David had in mind when he wrote the twenty-third psalm. As Maltie Babcock noted, “The road to the Promised Land always goes through the wilderness.”
But as David’s psalm and Jesus’ stories show, the word through is the final word. Returning is the last act. Homecoming is the final experience, one that became a dominant metaphor for Henri Nouwen in his books, The Return of the Prodigal Son and Home Tonight!
Because returning is the Story, we must be intent on experiencing and offering hope. Hope is both a prophetic word of invitation and a pastoral word of compassion. It is the experience that awakens us to the possibility of return and ignites in us the will to head for home. The light on God’s porch is always on!
Steve Harper 2024
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The Rev. Dr. Steve Harper is retired seminary professor who taught for 32 years in the disciplines of Spiritual Formation and Wesley Studies. Author and co-author of more than fifty books.. He is also a retired elder in The Florida Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.