Les Miserables has been out in America and Hong Kong for over a month now and will soon be released in Taiwan. A few thoughts for those who haven’t seen it yet…
I don’t know how you watch movies, but if you love the musical like I do, you may find yourself focusing on how the actors and actresses deliver the music. You may also be wowed by the way the movie was directed and produced. If you don’t like musicals, you may wonder why anyone would waste two plus hours watching people sing. If you don’t watch many movies, you may find the sin in this movie disturbing.
Whatever the case may be, if you see this movie, I hope you don’t miss the heart of the story.
It’s the story of Valjean, a man who was thrown into prison for stealing a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving child. What began as a 5-year sentence turned into 19 years on the chain gang. When he was finally released, he discovered that he still wasn’t free: society wasn’t about to forgive him for what he had done.
After facing rejection at every turn, he runs into a priest who not only welcomes him in, but offers him kindness and trust. Hardened by his recent experiences, Valjean steals the priest’s silver, only to be caught and dragged back by the police.
Enter this scene.
What the chain gang failed to do in 19 years, this priest did in a moment: for the first time, Valjean is confronted with the darkness in his soul. When he stole the loaf of bread, he felt justified. This time, however, he knows he’s guilty. In his soliloquy following this scene, he sings,
One word from him and I’d be back
Beneath the lash, upon the rack
Instead he offers me my freedom
I feel my shame inside me like a knife
This is the power of forgiveness. Like Valjean, it’s easy to justify the sin in our lives. We don’t think we’re as bad as “some people.” We find some rules ridiculous and meant to be broken. As long as we think that our sin is merely breaking the law, we don’t have the power to change.
What we need is to come face to face with our Priest, who not only overlooks our blatant sin but offers us silver candlesticks when we deserve to be thrown back in prison. Repentance comes only when we realize that we have broken God’s heart. That is the beginning of true freedom. That is how we learn to live like God is real.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ– by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5).
