Dec
28
2012

The Miserable Ones

When everyone is home we always try to do some planned family things.
We enjoy going out to dinner to a favorite restaurant.
We usually try to go to a current movie that everyone wants to see.
This time the movie was Les Miserables.

Victor Hugo published Les Miserables in 1862.
It is known as a French historical novel…one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
It is so much more than that.

It is a story of Jean Valjean, in prison for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread.
It is the story of Javert, a prison guard overseeing a chain gang which Valjean was a part.
It is the story of law vs. grace.
It is the story of revenge vs. forgiveness.
It is the Gospel.

I cried through the entire movie.
This story has always cut me to the heart.
The combination of lyrical storytelling and beautiful music takes my breath away.

Sören Kierkegaard once wrote about despair.
Despair is the sin that leads to all other sins.
Despair is epitomized in Fantine, who needs to support a child she had out of wedlock.
She works in a factory until the secret of her child is revealed.
She loses her job, and in despair, works as a prostitute to support her daughter.

So many layers to all of Hugo’s characters.
So many interweaving webs to his story.

Javert, the righteous, lived by the law…by the book…with no room for grace.
Valjean, the criminal, lived by grace…grace received…grace extended.
Javert, the righteous, was a prisoner of the system he tried so desperately to uphold.
Valjean, the criminal, was free…free from bitterness…free from the bondage of revenge.

Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents (millions of dollars) was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees before him. “Be patient with me,” he begged, “and I will pay back everything.” The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii (few dollars). He grabbed him and began to choke him. “Pay back what you owe me!” he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.” But he refused. Instead he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. “You wicked servant,” he said. “I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.
(Matthew 18:23-35)

This parable kept repeating in my head throughout the entire movie.

When the law comes face to face with grace, it does not know what to do!
Until law and grace meet…the law considers itself to be the strongest.
In actuality, the stronger of the two is grace.

Grace can change a life.
Grace can take a heart of stone and change it…soften it…enable it to love…and forgive.

The law is ordered…unchanging…immovable.
The law keeps the heart of stone…a heart of stone.
The stony heart finds it difficult to love.
It finds it impossible to forgive.

Grace tends to be shared…extended…given away.
The law stays in its own little box…safe…neat…predictable.

There is no salvation through the law…for the law condemns without mercy.
There is salvation only through grace…grace through faith.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)

Valjean’s story is our story.

We are the criminal deserving death…deserving no mercy.
We all have a Javert…ready to condemn at every turn…reminding us of every indiscretion.

But God…

But because of His great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.
(Ephesians 2:4,5)

The law binds.
Grace sets free.

Grace is unmerited.
The law cannot understand that kind of love.
It makes no sense.

To God…it makes perfect sense.

It is how He brings the most wretched sinner to Himself.
Jesus, the sinless Son of God, died a criminal’s death on the cross in our place.
Mercy is given to those that believe.

No despair.
Hope.
A life filled with hope and promise.
A prisoner set free!

It is known as a French historical novel…one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
It is so much more than that.