Elvin Alqueza Oboy G-10 Napier

Reflections on Les Miserables

Why does Les Miserables move me so much?

In 2014, I watched an incredible Broadway performance of that famous musical. At the

end I stood cheering and applauding. I was also weeping openly. Why? I don’t cry that
easily–and I know the story extremely well. I’ve even read the book from upon which the
musical and the many movie versions are based: all 530,982 words, or 1488 pages of it.

But I still wept.

What I see here each time is the universal story: the grinding, soul-destroying poverty
and injustice that rules the lives of most; the occasional ray of light that reminds us that
God is indeed present; the power of compassion and the freedom that forgiveness
offers; the courage it takes to stand firm, face our enemies and own our identities; and
the delight of romantic love.

All there–to beautiful, memorable music that fills heart, mind and soul.

The most interesting character is Javert, the relentless, righteous one who insists that
once a thief, always a thief. He cannot open his mind or heart to any extenuating
circumstances. Right is right; wrong is wrong; compassion has no power to move. And
ultimately, forgiven freedom makes no sense.

The idea of forgiven freedom is also what has often been termed, “the scandal of the
Gospel.” The Gospel, that message often dismissed as “crazy nonsense,” the good news,
the extravagant grace, the sweeping away of barriers, is the open invitation into the
heart of God.

That scandalous gospel means no piles of laws or endless restrictions, no mediators

between God and us, just messengers, those who have seen and now come back to invite
others. Instead of having to make ourselves perfect to enter, we enter in all our
imperfections and are slowly molded, shaped and refined into the perfection of love,
into those who are the healers of the world.

But Javert would and could have none of this. His world insisted on perfection before
redemption. The opposite idea: that forgiveness and release comes first and then
perfection slowly appears, brought chaos to his ordered world.

I am coming to the conclusion that the drive for perfection fights the possibility of
becoming the recipient of grace to the death. It did for Javert–he found death preferable
to having to change his understanding of righteousness.