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Safe Passagesupport for those struggling with homosexuality
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"Les Miserables" ("The Wretched") by Victor Hugo [1] is a story of how salvation unfolds 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. Later on, after he has prospered as a factory owner and become the mayor of a small town, he is entrusted with the care of the daughter of a homeless and dying prostitute. After confronting (and escaping) the inspector who is still tracking him after all these years (and to whom he has revealed his identity for the sake of an innocent man's acquittal), he sets off for the tavern of the cruel innkeeper couple to whom the mother had been sending child-support money. He finds the child Cosette weeping in the dark, having been sent out alone to fetch water from the well by the terrifying mistress of the house, and with tenderness, he hears her grief at being harshly used for servant labour. The scene discussed below begins with him walking back to the inn with her, adding a gentle harmony to her song of sadness and longing. There are many things which this story illustrates about healing and how the Lord views us, including:
1. The Lord's seeing of us--enters into our world and frees us to tell our story ("There Is a Castle On a Cloud; I like to go there when I sleeparen't any floors for me to sweep Nobody shouts or talks too loud, not in my castle on a cloud. There is a lady all in white, holds me and sings a lullaby")--He compassionately understands and even echoes our longing for real cherishing love.
2. The Lord's advocacy for us--sees the injustice ("I found her wandering in the wood, this little child, I found her trembling in the shadows"); confronts those who should know better directly with the truth--His clarity provides a protective boundary for the defenseless who cannot yet speak out on their own behalf.
3. The Lord's willingness to pay any price to adopt us for His own ("and I will settle any debt you may think proper; I will pay what I must pay "); in our story, His own body and life was the price (Matt. 20:28 the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matt. 13:46 when he had found one pearl of great price, [he] went and sold all that he had, and bought it.)
4. The Lord knows who we are ("Here to help Cosettenow her mother is with God") and Who He is ("And I speak here with her voice, and I stand here in her place"). He knows us well enough to truly be an Advocate for us--He knows what we need and He sets in motion a process of redemption.
5. The Lord's commitment is eternal "and from this day and evermore[she] shall live in my protectionI will not forsake my vow". (Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.")
6. His commitment is utterly treasuring and complete "Cosette shall have a father now" (Ps. 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation. Also Jer. 49:11)
7. The Lord sees through the treachery that is too deep for us to defend against. In our utterly disoriented state, we could not speak out on our own behalf against the deceit which has wounded us or delineate against forces more powerful than we are (especially when we are in their grasp). "Let us not talk of bargains or greedthank you both for Cosette; it won't take you too long to forget!" His truth, no matter how disturbing, is safe to hold on to--His clarity is a comfort to us because it is put forth for our ransom and transformation unto life. (Jer. 31:11 For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.)
8. The Lord sets boundaries on our behalf, even in the face of outright falsehoods about what has transpired and/or distortions of His intent by those who would misrepresent things for their own purposes. He forbids the evil one to lay claim to us. "No more words, here's your price!" (Isa. 43:3 I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.)
9. The Lord embraces and adopts us for our own "Come my dear, from now on I will always be here; where I go, you shall be" (Ps. 135:4 For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.)
10. The Lord hears and has already begun to fulfill the longings of our heart "Will there be castles and children to see?" "Yes it's true; there's a castle just waiting for you". He holds in His heart the longings for relational nourishment that we almost dare not experience in our hearts, much less express. (Isa. 64:4 since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Also Ps. 10:17, Ps. 16:11, Zeph. 3:17, Eph. 3:19; 1Pet. 4:13)
11. The Lord walks WITH us out of the hell we've been in, through as much mourning and healing as we need. The "Les Miserables" scene ends with Valjean walking away from the inn with his adopted Cosette, adding a tender harmony to the song of sadness and longing which again comes up from her soul. Although she has been delivered from her sad estate, the effects of the deprivations and rejections she has been through remain in her and need to be heard by a greater and loving Presence in which she can be reconnected to life.
This last item is a clear picture of inner healing. Having embraced and been embraced in what was true in her life (no matter how painful), the broken parts of the child's heart could come together and heal--she could know and be known as a whole person. She was all the more free to emerge intact because He clearly saw and was at peace with where she was in the process--He (Whom Valjean represented) echoed the expression of her heart. He was not uncomfortable with her woundedness and strong emotions--rather, He moved towards her in them, and she was therefore able to fully experience/ work through what was real concerning her life.
We experience a similar process of healing. While we are inside of the trauma or desolation, we remain fragmented because the different aspects of our personalities and experiences cannot be held together in isolation--we need His presence because the pain and fear are too much to bear alone. Although He clearly sees what our eventual redemptive outcome/ destination will be (e.g. Lazarus account from John 11), He weeps with us, and walks with us through the sorrow of what has transpired. In this we are freed to embrace the truth of what has happened and what has resulted from it. Even the salvation He has wrought for us doesn't change the factual content of our history--there is still pain to walk through, and He is present with us in it because His passion is to reclaim us at all levels unto Himself--to deeply KNOW us in the communion spoken of in the Scriptures (e.g. Deut. 10:12, Ps. 17:15, Ps. 27:8, Isa. 55:6, Hosea 5:15, Amos 5:8, Micah 6:8, Matt 7:20-27, Mark 12:33, John 15:4, Phil. 3:7-10, James 4:6, 1John 5:20, Rev 3:17-20).
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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