Les Miserables, Grace and Kindness

“That men saw his mask, but the bishop saw his face. That men saw his life, but the bishop saw his conscience.” (Victor Hugo)

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) and the Bishop (Colm Wilkinson)

In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo, the famous author tells the story of Jean Valjean (I didn’t read the novel, but I watched the movie). His only crime was the theft of a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children – that’s all! But crime was still crime and he was sentenced for 19 years before he was released. He was unable to find work because he had been a convict. Nobody wants to hire him; he was labelled as “dangerous”. Until late at night, a cold night, a Christian Bishop found him lying on the floor wanting to sleep. So he took Valjean to the Church to warn himself and gave him supper and a place to sleep.

That night he was struggled and confused by the grace and kindness that was shown to him. Never such goodness he ever felt for the last 19 years. Since grace was foreign to him, he did not cling to it for long but do likewise, he was yielding to temptation. Valjean stole the church’s silver plates and silently slipped out into the night. But soon after he was caught by the police officers (or was it called ‘temple guards’) and brought back to the scene of the crime.

The officers asked for the Bishop’s testimony if this Valjean were the one who stole the silver plates. The kind Bishop did not want to prosecute the man so he said that he was the one who told Valjean to take those things with him. He told the officers he wanted Valjean to have the silver plates. I think the Bishop was trying to win him to the Lord. Turning to the silver candlesticks, he said,

“And Jean, you forgot to take the candlesticks... Take these also.”

To cut the story short, Jean Valjean was astounded and the kindness shown by the Bishop later resulted in his life-changing conversion. Now the ‘foreign grace’ had become his ‘home grace’. Grace was his home for the rest of his life. This unmerited grace and loving-kindness from God that he had experienced through the compassionate Bishop, soon rippled throughout the rest of his life – even unto his death.

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 The Bishop’s kindness is my focus here. Guy King writes, “You can no more have love without kindness than you can have springtime without flowers. The greatest thing a man can do for his heavenly Father is to be kind to some of His other children”. It is said that kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. Jean Valjean and many others who are foreign to the grace of God are deaf and blind to the Good News until we show them God’s loving-kindness through our lives. Yes, preaching is necessary. Yes, evangelism is crucial. Yes, prayer is important. But before our words, our actions must speak first. The Bishop in this novel and movie is our character example. Be kind to people, you never know that your kindness express from God’s love will change someone else’s life.

May the Lord pour out His saving grace to the ‘Jean Valjean’ that you will soon encounter in your life. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ tender your heart and filled you with loving-kindness like ‘the Bishop’ in this story. Amen.

“Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence or learning”
(Frederick W. Faber)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.