Les Miserables, Jonah, and Christians

I have always been a fan of musicals, and lately I cannot get enough of Les Mis. Don't get me wrong I have always been a Les Mis fan ever since my high school did it as their fall musical back in 2004. As I continue to listen to the 25th anniversary live album and watch the newest version of the movie with Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway, the more I begin to like the character of Javert.

For those who do not know the story, Javert is the primary antagonist in the story. He spends his days obsessing over capturing a fugitive Jean Valjean. While Valjean has changed due to an encounter with a priest Javert simply cannot believe that Valjean has changed.

You may now be wondering how Javert, Jonah, and Christians all play together. Javert could never fully grasp God’s grace and mercy. In the song Stars Javert states "he (Valjean) knows his way in the dark, mine is the way of the Lord." While Valjean has changed and becomes (in many ways) a good Christian, Javert does not believe that he has, or that he is even a Christian because he is a fugitive. He cannot see Valjean as Christ sees him; he cannot see Valjean through the eyes of grace and mercy. Throughout Valjean even proves he has changed by sparing Javert his life, and actively helping others. This leads to *spoiler* Javert committing suicide. In his Soliloquy he states "how can I allow this man hold dominion over me? This desperate man that I have hunted. He gave me my life. he gave me freedom. I should have perished by his hand...and must I now begin to doubt, who never doubted all those years? my heart is stone and still it trembles. The world I know is lost in shadow. Is he from Heaven or from Hell? And does he even know that granting me my life today has killed me even so?" Javert never believed that anyone could change, he never truly believed in God's mercy or grace.

Likewise Jonah became frustrated when God showed mercy on Nineveh after they repented. Maybe Jonah did believe that the people of the city had changed, and he does state how he knew God would be merciful, but he was angry that God did show mercy to them. God’s response to Jonah was blunt and forward. Jonah 4:6-11 states: "Then the Lord God provided a shrub, and it grew up over Jonah, providing shade for his head and saving him from his misery. Jonah was very happy about the shrub. But God provided a worm the next day at dawn, and it attacked the shrub so that it died. Then as the sun rose God provided a dry east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint. He begged that he might die, saying, 'it's better for me to die than to live.' God said to Jonah, 'is your anger about the shrub a good thing?' Jonah said, 'yes, my anger is good--even to the point of death!' But the Lord said, ' you "pitied" the shrub, for which you didn't work and which you didn't raise; it grew in a night and perished in a night. yet for my part, can't i pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than one hundred twenty thousand people who can't tell their right hand from their left, and also many animals?'"

Just as Javert could not believe that Valjean had changed, and could not extend mercy to him, and like Jonah becoming frustrated with God having mercy on Nineveh, many who claim to be Christian act the same. We get hurt by someone, we experience genuine evil and we find it impossible to forgive. We become like Javert and Jonah. We want justice in the form that we see fit. We want our Valjean’s imprisoned, and we want our Nineveh’s destroyed. Even if they change and ask for forgiveness we find it hard to forgive.

While it is hard, and in some cases it may seem even impossible to forgive those who have hurt us, we should ask Christ to help us to forgive. It is easy to become a Javert and Jonah, but as followers of Christ and as a Church we are called to rise above these ruts we can get in. I do believe that there is a time where it is appropriate to be angry and lament, but we are to not stay there. It was Javert being stuck where he was that lead him to his death. When we stay there we too die, maybe not physically but spiritually.

Maybe I have come to like Javert’s character because I see so much of myself, and others in him. It is easy to watch his character from afar and see where he is wrong. It is easy to say that he should realize Valjean has changed and stop seeking to imprison him once more. Likewise with Jonah, it is easy to watch from afar and see how his attitude and actions towards Nineveh and the shrub were wrong. However, we find it hard to see how we can act the same towards others in our own lives. While we may say people can change society has taught us that they cannot. We use phrases like “once a cheater always a cheater” and “people can never change.” We also see in the media people who claim to have changed but their actions show us otherwise. Javert’s character is not so farfetched when we look at our own legal system and see how people seek a life sentence, or the death penalty in the name of justice. While one may deserve death, I believe as followers of Christ we should extend some mercy. Many of us claim to be pro-life until it comes to the death penalty. This is not to say that they should go free, but for us who claim to be Christians to take a second look at what we call justice.

My hope for this blog post is that the next time you watch Les Miserables, or read the story of Jonah, that you do so through a new lens. Do not be so quick to judge Jonah and Javert, but try and truly understand where they are coming from. Then maybe you will begin to see yourself in them, and then allow Christ to transform that part of your life.