If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.  – Luke 6:29

This past Tuesday, we saw Les Misérables.  My wife had seen it before, but it was my first time.  The main character, Jean Valjean, is an absolute scoundrel.   He steals bread to feed his sister’s children, which almost everyone can see as justifiable.  When the priest takes him in, however, he commits an act which is not justifiable.  The priest was his saving grace.  He gave Jean Valjean a place to go when he had no place to go.  When the priest wasn’t around, he stole a silver cup.  It was hard to watch him dump on the priest like that and it made me angry.  There the priest was being good to Jean and he just uses him.  Later the cops catch him.  They find the cup and are ready to throw him back in prison.

Here is where the most powerful part of the play happened for me.  The priest finds Jean Valjean again as he is being arrested.  Instead of being angry and telling the cops to throw him under the jail, he has two silver candlesticks in his hands.  He tells the cops that he gave the cup to him, and he forgot to take the candlesticks as well.  When they let him go, the priest tells him to take the precious metal and become an honest man.  It is this extravagant act of mercy that changes Jean Valjean.

I think this is what is supposed to happen to us when we look at the cross.  Jesus told Peter that He could call on legions of angels to defend him from the Roman soldiers if He wanted.  Jesus even prayed to God to be spared from the cup He was about to consume.  When the answer was “no, there is no other way,” we see our Lord and savior endure the scourging and the cross like no other.  The priest in Les Miz gave possessions of great value to someone who nobody thought deserved it . . . Jesus gave His life.  

Later in the story, Jean Valjean gave an exorbitant amount for Cosette, the daughter of a prostitute that nobody wanted.  He passed on the same grace he had received from the priest, and it changed her life as well.  I couldn’t help but think about how Jesus has changed my life through His over-the-top mercy and grace.  How can I not show the same to others.  

Lord, I hate how sometimes I bring You down to my level.  I’m like Peter reluctantly letting down the fishing nets again out of obligation.  I argue with You, I disobey You, and I treat You as less than the Lord of my life.  Then, You bless me like You did Peter.  You allow me to figuratively catch so many fish that my nets begin to break.  It is in those moments that I fall on my knees and call You “Lord” over and over again.  It is in those moments that heaven meets me here on Earth.  In those moments, I want to do for others as You have done for me.  Help us, Lord!  Use us, Your servants, to bring about revival like this world has never seen.  Amen.