2014 Life-A-Thon

Running to save lives! There is a walking option too, no training required. :) Check out my page to get event details, to learn more about WLFL , and to find out what you can do to help.

Les Misérables - Grace over Law

This past weekend I watched the movie Les Misérables (2012 version). Also known as Les Mis for short (and for people who don't quite know how to pronounce French). This musical movie is based on the book, Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862. I have to admit that I have not read the book. I have been looking for shortcuts to pare down my reading list.

What struck me most was the dichotomy of Law and Grace. Inspector Javert represents the destructive power of law while ex-convict Jean Valjean represents the restorative power of grace. Not one of us can hold up under the law. Even Javert was guilty at one point of breaking the law. Where would we be if we had only the law? Condemned until death. The law antagonizes us to fight back and break the law more. We each invariably break the law in some trivial way (i.e. speeding, littering, pushing on the playground). If we are only given the cold law, we push back with our justifications of our actions. We feel we don't deserve punishment. And when we feel we don't deserve punishment, we feel compelled to make our own law in which we are judge, and we can gain some sort of retribution for the "unjust" punishment administered by The Law.

But if there is a just Judge over all people who sees all offenses to The Law, then all people are held accountable to The Law and cannot escape, even if they create a fantasy world of their own law. What can save us from this world of law? Only grace. Don't get me wrong; the broken must be fixed; the offenses must be paid for, but not by us because we cannot. We are naturally opposed to The Law, wanting to do things our own way at the expense of others. But our offenses were paid by Jesus and His hyper-grace. He covers us completely. Through His grace we empower others to live by grace. We are all in the same boat-load of trouble, and we can only make it out through the same gift of grace. There is no life with The Law, and there is no death with The Grace. Thanks be to God!

Jean Valjean is truly a story of the transformation from sinner to saint. God works through him to accomplish much good, even though he is still an imperfect man who makes unknowing mistakes. He rescues a man from being crushed to death, gives to the poor, redeems Cosette, saves Marius from death, and shows mercy to his enemy, Javert. I echo Jean Valjean's own words as he contemplates what kind of a man he will be, "Who am I? Who am I? I'm Jean Valjean!"

Grace...

Over...

Law.