Episode 20

Les Misérables

One of the most powerful stories about the transforming power of grace comes from Victor Hugo’s 1862 classic Les Misérables. Jean Valjean became a bitter man when he was sentenced to a nineteen-year imprisonment for stealing bread. Released on parole after nineteen years, he found it difficult to survive as the innkeepers would not welcome him. However, the bishop of Digne treated him kindly. He accepted him and gave him food and lodging. But Valjean betrayed the bishop’s trust and repaid his kindness by stealing his family’s silverware and running away. However, he was caught with those possessions.

Next morning he was brought before the bishop by the police. If charged and convicted, it would mean life-imprisonment for Valjean. But instead of condemning him, the bishop said he had left behind the silver candlesticks which the bishop had given him. The police released him.  Jean Valjean was stunned. The bishop whom he had robbed saved his life. The policemen released Jean Valjean and then left.

The bishop not only let Valjean go, he also gave him the candlesticks and told him to use the money to lead an honest life.  Touched by the grace shown by the kind bishop, Valjean became a totally transformed man. He became a prosperous factory owner and the mayor of the town. He changed his name to Monsieur Madeleine.

Meanwhile, a policeman named Javert has been trying to capture Valjean for eight years. When he realized that the mayor reminded him of the parole-breaker Valjean, he pursued him relentlessly.

As an officer of the law, Javert was consumed by the desire to uphold justice. It was his duty to see that justice was done and that lawbreakers must be punished. He did not know anything about grace, mercy or compassion.

Later Valjean had the opportunity to let Javert die but he saved him instead. Javert could not understand why Valjean saved him since he was the one out to capture and imprison him for life. Nor could he accept that Valjean did not retaliate but practised grace instead.

The story ends with Valjean a totally transformed man while Javert ended his life by jumping into the river because he could not accept the transforming power of grace.

The story of Les Misérables is a story of grace and law. Law could not change Valjean after years of imprisonment. He became a bitter and violent man feared by his fellow-prisoners. After years of hard labour, he was let out on parole, but he continued to steal.  

But look at what grace did. It totally transformed him. The bishop practised grace on him. He gave him what he needed and not what he deserved. He deserved life incarceration for stealing, betraying the bishop’s trust and returning evil for good. But the bishop decided to give him another chance. That is what grace is all about. It is giving others another chance to change; giving people what they need and not what they deserve.

In this case, in the conflict between grace and law, grace triumphed. What law couldn’t do to change a person, grace did. ‘The law is excellent for facilitating condemnation among persons, but it is impotent in affecting transformation in a person’ says Gaddy (1993: 83). Javert who represented the law could not take it that Valjean a hardened criminal was totally transformed by grace for good. He couldn’t stomach the fact that Valjean did not seek revenge nor was he vindictive but instead went out of his way to help him when the revolutionaries wanted to kill him.  The only way out of his dilemma was to end his own life. In the end, grace won because ‘grace finds the sinner in the gutter and makes a saint of him’ (Jones 1997:104).   

Oh the healing power of God’s grace! Oh the transforming power of His grace! Oh the triumphs of his grace! ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns’ (Rev 19:6).

O for a thousand tongues to sing

My great redeemer’s praise

The glories of my Lord and King

The Triumphs of His Grace.

Conclusion

The grace of God is like the fresh invigorating wind on a hot and sultry day, like a gurgling brook where fresh and clean water is available when you go on a mountain hike. His grace becomes an oasis in the desert for you as you travel through life’s journey. Like an awe-inspiring rainbow after a thunderstorm displaying its dazzling colours on the horizon is the grace of God.  Grace can also be compared to a cloudless night with sky-laden stars and the full moon radiating its regalia splendour.  

God’s grace is neither like the tide that ebbs and flows nor fluctuates like the stocks and shares in the market. Neither is God’s grace like the sun that rises from the east, sets in the west and then disappears from view in the night. God’s grace is always constant, never runs out of supply and is unlimited. It is also unfathomable and inexhaustible in its benevolence.

One of the most theologically powerful and profound hymns comes from the pen of William Rees in the nineteenth century. Each time I sing this hymn, Here is Love, Vast as the Ocean, I am spiritually and emotionally moved because of its theology of grace.

Here is love, vast as the ocean,

Loving kindness as the flood,

  When the prince of life, our ransomed,

Shed for us his precious blood.

Who His love will not remember?

Who can cease to sing His praise?

He can never be forgotten

Through out heaven’s eternal days.

On the Mount of Crucifixion

Fountains opened deep and wide;

Through the floodgates of God’s mercy

Flowed a vast and gracious tide.

Grace and love, like mighty rivers,

Poured incessant from above,

And heaven’s peace and perfect justice

Kissed a guilty world in love.

The prophet Isaiah said, ‘Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink even if you have no money! Come take your choice of wine or milk it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen, I will tell you where to get food that is good for the soul’ (Isa 55:1-2).

Come, to the refreshing oasis of God’s grace where your thirst will be quenched.  Come, to God’s banqueting table of grace where your hunger will be satiated. There you find a widespread buffet that will satisfy your soul.  Come and bask in the luxuriant sun of God’s grace where you get ‘grace-tanned’ instead of sunburnt. Come and bathe in the awesome rushing and mighty power of the cascading waterfall of God’s grace where you may be cleansed and be refreshed. Bathe in it and all the dirt will simply wash away. God’s grace is plentiful and free.  

In the opening chapters of the book, I have sought to demonstrate the grace of God at work even in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. Interestingly, the book of Revelation ends with ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all’ (Rev 22:21). The Scripture begins with the concept of grace and ends with a benediction of grace.

God’s grace is amazing because there is no retraction. The grace of God is awesome because there is no reduction. Why? Because ‘where sin was multiplied, grace immeasurably exceeded it’ (Rom 5:20). Another translation reads, ‘But where sin increased and abounded, grace (God’s unmerited favour) has surpassed it and increased the more and super-abounded (Rom 5:20; Amplified). To put another way, no matter ‘how wide and deep sin is, God’s grace is wider and deeper still’ (to use J. B. Phillips’ phrase). Wow! Think about that! No matter how great our sin may be, the grace of God will prove greater still.  Indeed, ‘no dam erected by sin can stop the abundant flow of God’s grace. Grace is never withheld because of sin’ (Boice 1993:127). Yes, God’s grace is scandalous (Barnhill 2004). The grace of God can never be forfeited because of some particular sin. The treasury of God’s grace can never be emptied because of certain transgression.

Perhaps you feel you have disappointed God because of your past and present imperfections. What you need is a lavish dose of God’s scandalous grace that forgives, refreshes, renews and revitalizes. Even a crumb of grace will make a difference in your life. Therefore, learn to celebrate the divine realities, the luxuriant, lavish, liberating and life-changing grace of God.

God is in the business of rebuilding lives. What a marvellous promise given by God to those who have failed Him.

You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,

Rebuild the foundations from out of your past.

You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,

Restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,

Make the community livable again

(Isa 58:18; from the Message)      

God delights in using broken people to display his power and glory. He relishes the opportunity to restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate our lives if we are willing to let Him. Which architect would do that? Only God! Haddon Robinson (1993) is right when he said, ‘God always plays the fool when He acts in grace’.  Oh the Riches of His Grace! Oh the Marvels of His Grace!  Oh the Power of His Grace!

Grace and Love, like mighty rivers,

Poured incessant from above,

And heaven’s peace and perfect justice

Kissed a guilty world in love.

Discussion Questions

1     What concrete lessons can you learn from Les Misérables?

2 List two or three major lessons you have learnt from the podcasts/texts that have spoken or challenged you the most.

3  What concrete actions do you plan to take?