The part with the Bishop starts at 5:50.
I had a Les Mis party the other day to (re)watch the 25th
anniversary concert. If you haven’t seen
it, you need to. It’s amazing. Les
Miserables is such a beautiful story of redemption and love and provides
some of the best Christ figures in literature.
In a story full of moving scenes, I think my favorite is
when the Bishop vouches for Valjean and gives him the candlesticks. Each time I watch it I’m so inspired by his
capacity to forgive. The part is short, but
it is the pivotal moment in the story.
It causes Valjean to recognize how low he’s sunk and inspires him to
strive to live worthy of the trust the Bishop placed in him. From
that single act, Valjean changes his life and rises to the point that he is
able to save (figuratively and literally) both Javert and Marius. At the end of his life, when Valjean is dying
and has abandoned all material things, he keeps the candlesticks that the
Bishop gave him all those years ago.
Valjean tells Cosette, “[The candlesticks] are silver; but to me they
are gold, they are diamonds…I do not know whether the one who gave them to me
is satisfied with me in heaven. I have
done what I could.” That act of forgiveness
motivated Valjean for the rest of his life. Forgiveness
is so powerful; it will inspire real change much more quickly than anger or guilt.
The one complaint I had about the book as opposed to the
musical is that in the end of the musical, Valjean feels the Lord’s
forgiveness; he feels redeemed in this life.
In the book, Valjean dies hoping
that all he did was sufficient but never truly feeling worthy of others’ love
and gratitude. I think one of the most beautiful things
about the Gospel is that we can feel forgiveness in this life. In fact, I know that the Lord wants us to have
the peace that comes from knowing the Lord has accepted our sacrifices and that
we are clean before him. Regardless of this
small complaint though, Les Miserables is
inspiring. Go see it.
