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Safe Passagesupport for those struggling with homosexuality
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Matt. 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Matt. 18:33-35 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Ps. 86:12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
"Les Miserables" ("The Wretched") by Victor Hugo [1] is a profound story of salvation unfolding in the lives of a number of people near Paris prior to the pre French Revolution. Jean Valjean, the main character in the story, has come out of 19 years of slave labour as an unjust sentence for his desperate act of stealing a loaf of bread to keep his sister's family from starving. Befriended by a gentle Bishop but shaped by earlier indignities, he is brought face to face with the bitter fruit of his past. Fearing what he might become, he allows himself to be broken by God's mercy and (tearing up his parole papers) begins a new life, his heart abandoned to God. Years later, he becomes the mayor of a small town only to relinquish it all to spare from prison an innocent man whom the inspector Javert thinks to be the fugitive Valjean. Years later, on the eve of a revolution by idealistic students who have captured Javert as a spy, Valjean is given an opportunity to execute his tormentor, but instead grants him unconditional mercy. There are many things which this story illustrates about the mercy the Lord longs for us to receive from Him.
Of special note is the great difference in what each does with the mercy
extended to him by others; below is a comparison of the words of a soliloquy
each speaks in response. Valjean has been forgiven for theft (and spared
re-incarceration) through the mercy of the humble Bishop who says, "But
remember this, my brother--see in this some higher plan; you must use this
precious silver to become an honest man. By the witness of the martyrs--by
the passion and the blood--God has raised you out of darkness; I have bought
your soul for God." Javert has been forgiven for offenses against the
people of the town (and spared from execution) through the mercy of Valjean
who says, "You are free, and there are no conditions--no bargains or
petitions! There's nothing that I blame you for--you've done your duty,
nothing more. If I come out of this alive, you'll find me at number fifty-five
Rue Plummet--no doubt our paths will cross again!" God longs for our
hearts to be opened in trust (and desperation) so that we may receive His
mercy in our depths totally freely and unselfconsciously.
| Javert | Valjean | Comments |
Who is this man; what sort of devil is he, to have me caught in a trap, and choose to let me go free? It was his hour at last, to put a seal on my fate: wipe out the past, and wash me clean off the slate! All it would take was a flick of his knife--vengeance was his, but he gave me back my life! Damned if I live in the debt of a thief! Damned if I yield at the end of a chase! I am the law, and the law is not mocked; I'll spit his pity right back in his face. There is nothing on earth that we share--it is either Valjean or Javert! How could I allow that man to hold dominion over me? This desperate man whom I have hunted? He gave me my life; he gave me freedom! I should have perished by his hand--it was his right. It was my right to die as well; instead I live, but live in hell! And my thoughts fly apart--shall this man be believed! Shall his sins be forgiven? Shall his crimes be reprieved? And must I now begin to doubt? Who never doubted all these years? My heart is stone and still it trembles! The world I have known is lost in shadows. Is he from heaven or from hell? And does he know? That granting me my life today, this man has killed me, even so! I am reaching, but I fall! And the stars are black and cold--as I stare into the void, of a world that cannot hold! I'll escape now from that world-from the world of Jean Valjean! There is nowhere I can turn; there is no way to go on! [Javert throws himself into a swollen River at the edge of the city, and ends his life] |
What have I done, sweet Jesus what have I done--become a thief in the night, become a dog on the run? And have I fallen so far, and is the hour so late that nothing remains but the cry of my hate? The cries in the dark, that nobody hears, here where I stand at the turning of the years? Is there another way to go--I missed it twenty long years ago! My life was a war that could never be won--they gave me a number and murdered Valjean when they chained me and left me for dead, just for stealing a mouthful of bread! Yet how could I allow that man to touch my soul and teach me love? He treated me like any other--he gave me his trust; he called me "Brother"! My life he claims for God above! Can such things be? For I had come to hate the world--this world that always hated me! "Take an eye for an eye; turn your heart into stone!"--this is all I have lived for; this all I have known! 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! He told me that I have a soul--how does he know,? What spirit comes to move my life? Is there another way to go? I am reaching, but I fall! And the night is closing in--as I stare into the void, to the whirlpool of my sin! I'll escape now from that world-from the world of Jean Valjean! Jean Valjean is nothing now--another story must begin! [Valjean tears up his yellow Ticket-Of-Leave so that he may live an entirely new life] |
Javert sees himself and others as defined by black and white opposites--they are more roles than persons. When Valjean responds to him outside the confines of the roles assigned to the opposite of "the law", his brittle sense of himself is shattered. Valjean takes responsibility for his actions while acknowledging the pain of the injustices others have committed against him. He allows his self-perceptions to be informed by something greater than his own perceptions. Unable to receive any good from one he has characterized as entirely bad, Javert wrestles against the evident inconsis-tency of his own world view, and he does not know how to resolve it--the good that cannot be taken as a free gift is viewed as humiliating dominion. Valjean, recognizing the goodness of the free gift of love offered to him, gives himself in willingness to be transformed by it. For Javert, it is more frightening to face his uncertainty and need for redemption even than it is to confuse what is evil with what is good. For Valjean, the source of good is clear, and he acknowledges his need for forgiveness, and so finds the possibility of changing direction. Both see that the dilemma is bigger than a human can contain. But Javert sees the blackness as originating only outside of himself--the only escape is from life entirely. Valjean, seeing the darkness inside himself, escapes by starting anew. [End of total existence in the world vs. death to a former "way-of-being" in the world] |
Note [1]. The author of the original, Les Miserables novel was written by Victor Hugo. Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg created the play, Schönberg wrote the music, and Herbert Kretzmer wrote the musical lyrics.
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