Les Miserables and loving mercy

As some of you may know, I've just finished reading Les Miserables (the book on which the musical is based rather than the musical itself). I enjoyed it, overall, although certain parts (eg half a dozen chapters on the history of the Paris sewer network- yes, really) weren't highlights. But parts of the story seemed to illustrate perfectly a discussion I was having with a friend a week or so ago.

We were (through some means that I can't quite remember) discussing justice and fairness. I had said that even if it was fair for someone to be unhappy because of a decision I'd made, I didn't want them to. "But it's fair," came the reply. "Even if it's fair, I don't want someone to be unhappy because of me," I responded.

My point was that sometimes what we deserve doesn't happen to us, because we are shown mercy. That, of course, is the whole point of the Christian gospel- that we (humankind, every one of us) are in a mess but because of God's love and mercy, expressed through Jesus' life and death, we can be sorted out and get, in effect, a new life. But when Christians go on about 'justice' and picture God as a judge who decides what we deserve, it can seem hard to see where mercy fits into this. People usually struggle thinking of a God who judges. But can a loving God be just- if we deserve something bad, is it just that we get good things, freedom, a second chance?

Near the beginning of Les Mis, Jean Valjean, as an ex-convict, finds it impossible to get lodging for the night until he is taken in by the Bishop of Digne. Despite the kindness and hospitality shown him by the bishop, Valjean, hardened by his years as a convict, steals the bishop's silver and runs away. He is caught and brought back to the bishop, who saves Valjean by declaring that the silver wasn't stolen, that he gave it to Valjean. He then gives Valjean two silver candlesticks, and tells him that from now on he must be an honest man, because he (the bishop) has bought Valjean's soul with the silver. The musical version puts it like this:
"You must use this precious silver to become an honest man,...
Christ has raised you out of darkness, I have bought your soul for God."

Valjean goes off, and (after a hiccup or two) does become an honest man, devoting and risking his life to helping the poor and making others happy. This encounter with the bishop profoundly changes him. Despite his deserving to be punished for his theft and sent back to the galleys, he is shown incredible mercy and generosity by the bishop, and instead of being returned to his old life he is given a chance to make a fresh start, to make a new life for himself. Instead of what he deserves (punishment) he gets something that is much better (life and freedom).

But is that fair? How can it be justice to give people a reward when they deserve punishment? At first sight it seems crazy. Why should Valjean, a man who has stolen from a someone who gave him kindness, treated him with respect, gave him food and a bed, not be punished? He know that what he's doing is wrong.

Yet the bishop forgives him. Why? Because he pities Valjean for what has happened to him, yes, but also, I think, because as a man of God he knows that God loves Valjean and wants to forgive him. The bishop's forgiveness of Valjean is symbolic of God's forgiveness, both to Valjean as an individual and to all humankind who turn to him.

Later on in the book Jean Valjean is faced with another choice. In the hope of protecting the man who his adopted daughter Cosette loves he has joined a group of rebel students at the barricade they have built. A spy, Javert, has been captured, and turns out to be a policeman who has been chasing Valjean for years. Valjean, rather than taking his revenge on Javert, saves his life and lets him go, even giving him his address so Javert can return and arrest him. Once again, instead of the punishment (in this case, death) that he was expecting, the condemned man is set free and given a new chance at life. Later Javert is able to return the favour and releases Valjean. But Javert cannot cope with the idea of mercy, of people who seem deserving of punishment being forgiven and rehabilitated. He commits suicide, unable to cope with the apparent injustice of the world:
"I am reaching, but I fall,
And the stars are black and cold,
As I stare into the void
Of a world that cannot hold.
I'll escape now from the world,
From the world of Jean Valjean,
There is nowhere I can turn to,
There is no way to go on!"

What would Javert's "ideal world" be like? What would our world be like if we all got what we deserved, and no better? I'm not sure I'd like it. And besides, who would decide whether we deserve something or not?

So is it fair that we should be forgiven? Or indeed that others should forgive us? Well, no, not really. Perhaps the best way to put it is to use the example of a mother and child- the child does something he knows is wrong, but the mother forgives it because she loves him (or her). It's not fair, the child doesn't deserve to be forgiven, but they are. In the same way, because he loves us, Jesus paid the penalty for all the stuff we're done wrong. Because of God's mercy and love, we don't get we deserve, we get what we don't deserve: forgiveness. It's called grace.

This post seems to be almost as long as the book itself. And if you think I'm over-spiritualising Les Mis, read the book. Honestly, I don't think I am- it's stuffed full of Christian references.