Les Miserables

by Heidi

   In the Bible Jesus is referred to as our redeemer.  I've known for a long time now that He redeemed me from sin and death, that He took me out of slavery and made me his child, but I didn't know what being redeemed felt like or really looked like until I saw this movie.

   In the movie, Les Miserables, we see two redeemers.  The first is the priest who redeemed Jon Valjean's life from the curse of the prison work camps, the hate, revenge, self-pity, hurt, and degradation.  The other is Valjean, an ex-convict who skips parole and finds out that one, in the eyes of the law, is always a convict.

      Valjean steals from the Priest and is caught.  When brought back by the police, the priest tells them that the items were gifts and that Valjean forgot to take the rest. The priest tells Valjean that the "gifts" he's giving him are buying his soul for God.  That Valjean is no longer is own, but belongs to God and to doing good.  Valjean, at first, doesn't know how to take this, but as we see later, God changes his heart.  

   He works his way up to being a mayor who loves his town and the people.  He lives very "poor" and uses his money to help people.  There are three people's lives that he redeems, the old man's, Fantine's, and Cossette's.

   One day the old man was in the street and a cart fell on him. Valjean, knowing that displaying his strength would be a sure sign to the police that he is the escaped convict they're looking for, lifts the cart off of the old man.  Later, the man is in the hospital, and Valjean comes to visit him.  He tells him that he has arranged for him to live and work in the convent.  The man is overwhelmed that Valjean is taking care of him. It's more than he would have ever hoped for or imagined.  He doesn't understand but is obviously very appreciative.

   Then there is Fantine, she is a worker in the factory that Valjean owns, the same factory that the old man worked in.  She has had a daughter, Cossette, out of wedlock, and so that she can work, the child lives with a couple in another town.  Other ladies at work find out that Fantine has a child, and they spread rumors.  The lady in charge of girls decides that Fantine isn't worth keeping and gets permission from Valjean to fire her.  Since Valjean doesn't know the true story and he trusts the lady's judgment he says to let her go.

   Now Fantine doesn't have a job so she can't pay the people to keep her daughter, and she can't pay her rent.  She can't even get a decent job because the whole town has heard the rumors.  She turns to prostitution.  She gets sick, beat up, and arrested.  When Valjean finds out, he comes to her rescue and takes Fantine into his home to take care of her.

   He holds nothing against her.  All of her past failures don't scare him away.  He's not afraid of the rumors of him taking in a prostitute.  He loves her with the sort of love that God show us.  

   See, this is what God did for us.  He took us in off the streets.  We tried to do things "by the law".  We tried to be good, righteous, and presentable.  But whether because of our own sins or because of the malice of the world we are left helpless and hopeless.  We've tried to take matters into our own hands and we have failed.  If only we had asked Him for help in the first place.  (Had Fantine asked Valjean for help, she would never have been fired).  

  Even so, God takes us out of the mess we've made of our lives and he delivers us from the law, from our enemies, and from our own attempts.  He takes care of us, and heals us.  This is where the parallel breaks down, Fantine dies physically.  We don't die physically, we "die to our selves" which is a lot like dying.  Basically we give up and we let him be in control.  We no longer live for ourselves and on our own strength, but we rely on him completely.  

   Before Fantine dies, she tells Valjean that she has a daughter, and that she wants to see her daughter before she dies.  Valjean goes and gets the daughter, but he is too late, Fantine has already died.  Cossette has been living with a family that abuses her, and she has to work as their maid.  

   When Valjean comes to get her it again is so similar to what God does for us.  He redeems us out of the situation that we're in.  The Word says that we are slaves to fear and slaves to sin and death.  We are worked to the bone and our only pay is more suffering.  We don't know who we are, we have no father, no family, no purpose other than to try to stay alive and out of the way.  God comes in and gives himself to us as our father.  We become his child, just like Valjean took Cossette and raised her as his own.  He gives us everything we need, family, love, a home, food, and security with him... the list goes on and on.  

   Here once again, the parallel breaks down.  In our case, we are given complete freedom.  We can leave our Father any time we wish. We would, however, break his heart in the mean time, but we are free to leave him, to disown him, and to take our inheritance with us (see the story of the prodigal son in Matthew 21).  (Also, see Steve's essay on Falling Away.  This may give you some insight to the question of being able to come back after we've left Him.)

   I strongly urge you to see this movie and look for the Father's heart, the Redeemer's heart, in the priest and in Valjean.  It is amazing to me because the love and redemption in this movie is only a very slight shadow of the love and redemption we have from God.  Also, take note of how God saves us from a life of toil and gives us rest and provision.  He saves us from our sin and death and loves us as His bride, and He saves us from a life of slavery and takes us in as his own child, giving himself to us as beloved Father.

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