The movie drained every bit of emotion from the book and stage show. It was a roller coaster of haunting despair, tragedy, young love, unflinching honor, child death and yet more tragedy. By the time the lights came up I found myself exhausted, drained and yet, and yet... strangely despondent. This was not how I felt when I left the stage show. Then I was uplifted, challenged and deeply grateful to have lived in kinder, gentler times.
Why the difference? And which would the author of the book - Victor Hugo - have intended more?
What the book and stage show tapped into, and what the movie rather missed, is the meta-narrative of Christian redemption, in short: the Gospel.
The movie left me reflecting on the brutality of life for the underclass in new republics - a human and political reflection. Perhaps the zeitgeist of our times is coming into play here? As new democracies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, struggle to find their identity; as weekly we read of minorities suffering persecution in India and Pakistan, it seems reasonable that Les Miserable act as a lens through which to reflect on brutal legalism for those with power who are convinced that they are in 'the right' and that the human lives of the poor (which is what 'les miserables' means) are an unavoidable casualty of the need to enforce order through the rule of law.
And yet, this misses the deeply honorable motives of Javert who, above all else wants to uphold the high standards of righteousness. If thieves go free, if fighting persists in the streets, how can good and right and law and civilization triumph? The good of the future of France - whether under royal or republican control is what drives Javert. He is a patriot to France - whoever wins the revolution - and wants her to be pure and spotless and yes - honorable. Javert represents for us the Pharisee - driven by motives of personal and social holiness. This is the justice of God, without the mercy of God. This is that judgmental Christian in church who frowns at the dress sense of the young people, whose heart is full of honor and right and good - but who has lost the gentle tenderness of God.
Jean Valjean, for the most part, is you and is me. Driven by circumstances beyond his control he has transgressed the law many times - perhaps by good motive but perhaps sometimes by selfish motive. Certainly he insists that his crime was to steal bread purely to feed a hungry relative. And yet we suspect this is not the only time he has stolen. He certainly doesn't think much before stealing the Bishop Myriel's silver - even after having been taken in from a cold night, fed and given a warm bed. Myriel surely is Jesus Christ: full of mercy and grace, loving kindness and tenderness, and Valjean here is the beaten-down Samaritan by the roadside. The scene where Myriel tells the policeman that , yes, he did give the Valjean all the household silver is pure mercy. If that scene doesn't make you tear up, I am not sure what will.
The main flow of the whole story is Jean Valjean's journey of transformation from desperate sinner to Christ-likeness. By the end of the movie he has redeemed Fantine's daughter Cosette, and redeemed his own character. He has become self-sacrificial in the tenderness of love, just like Myriel, just like Christ. Valjean is not insensitive to the demands and costs of justice - even trying to turn himself in to free a man wrongly accused of Valjean's own identity and sins - a substitutionary atonement narrative right-in-your-face if ever there was one.
So the beauty and wonder of Les Miserable's is the overt Christian Gospel narrative that pits mercy against legalism, redemption against condemnation, adoption against estrangement, relationship over rightness, with Christlike goodness ultimately winning each battle. Jean Valjean dies a death full of love, surrounded by those who love him at the altar of the church, surrounded by the spirits of Bishop Myriel and tragic Fantine - at peace with God and himself.
Honorable, but legalistic and judgmental Javert, confronted with the indomitable kindness of Valjean, can no longer live with himself and takes his own life - a Judas Iscariot motif to Valjean's Apostle Peter in many ways - one sinning and self-condemned, one sinning but kissed and redeemed.
Holywood saw these themes and they are there in the movie but they are buried under the box-office imperative of taking us on an emotional roller-coaster ride, at the expense of the beauty of Victor Hugo's bigger picture.
Final thought: if Anne Hathaway doesn't get the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress then the Academy needs to jump off a bridge along with Javert!
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
“The Triune God of holiness,
Whose glory fills the sky.
Whose glory to this earth extends,
While God himself imparts,
And the whole Trinity descends
Into our faithful hearts.”
Cf. also The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Volume 7, ed. G. Osborn (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1869), “Hymns and Prayers to the Trinity,” Hymn 17, Page 312.
Thanks to Dr. K Steve McCormick for this reference. #THE680
Whose glory fills the sky.
Whose glory to this earth extends,
While God himself imparts,
And the whole Trinity descends
Into our faithful hearts.”
Cf. also The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Volume 7, ed. G. Osborn (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1869), “Hymns and Prayers to the Trinity,” Hymn 17, Page 312.
Thanks to Dr. K Steve McCormick for this reference. #THE680
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The Endless Stream
I wanted to share this blog entry from a Protestant monk at the Community of Jesus. It speaks to me of the invitation God extends to each of us , irrespective of our lifestyle, position or age:
"Each morning I’m given anew the choice to step into the endless stream of the unceasing love, mercy, and creativity of God. The choice is mine to reject — or to wade forward on faith: the opportunity is always newly presented. Many days I have to remind myself to re-choose this discipleship, to choose to believe in God’s promised goodness as a backdrop for my life today. "
http://www.communityofjesus.org/author/melodiusmonk/
"Each morning I’m given anew the choice to step into the endless stream of the unceasing love, mercy, and creativity of God. The choice is mine to reject — or to wade forward on faith: the opportunity is always newly presented. Many days I have to remind myself to re-choose this discipleship, to choose to believe in God’s promised goodness as a backdrop for my life today. "
http://www.communityofjesus.org/author/melodiusmonk/
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
Pattern Interrupt
I was once trained a technique to make telephone sales calls, called 'pattern interrupt'. The idea was to not sound like every other telephone sales 'cold call', and catch the person 'off guard' and maybe get them talking. It was cheesy, but it worked. If you want to not be ignored, be different. We tend to filter out things that fall into uninteresting patterns.
In the gospel of Mark, chapter 2, we see Jesus starting His ministry by acting unexpectedly. He teaches "a new teaching with authority!" (Mark 1:27), He has the miraculous ability to heal sick people, His disciples don't fast because He says He is 'the bridegroom' who is present (Mark 2:18-22), He hangs out with sinners and hated tax collectors, preferring them to the self-identified 'righteous' - the insiders (Mark 2:13-17), and He even turns holy tradition on it's head by declaring that the prescribed day of rest (Sabbath) was created to serve humankind, rather than to rule humankind. He is seriously different! All the patterns are being interrupted.
What catches my attention is the much loved story of four faithful men bringing their paralyzed friend to Jesus and having to dig a hole in the roof above Jesus to even reach Him because of the crowds. (That always seems comical to me - the picture of Jesus calmly continuing to teach while plaster falls from the ceiling into His hair!). The obvious need presented to Jesus is for Him to heal the paralyzed man of his physical condition. We'd expect this gracious compassionate Jesus to heal the man. We are not entirely surprised (now that we are in the second chapter of Mark!) to read the paralyzed man came in by the roof, but walked out the door! But...Jesus sees things in an unexpected way.
Jesus first tells the man that his sins are forgiven. Mark teaches us the theological point that only God can forgive sins, so Jesus is proclaiming Himself as God! That's outrageous enough and the religious insiders are scandalized by this. The kicker is...Jesus says it is harder for Him to forgive a man's sins than to heal him of being paralyzed. Woah! Really?
I always thought it was simple for God to forgive me of my sins (i.e. my disobedience towards God, selfishness, ignoring God, pleasing myself and not God etc.). Surely it's just a word and a nod, right? Apparently not - there is more to it than just a royal declaration from God. Huh. This forgiving is hard for God - harder than even curing chronic disease?
Perhaps the hint is in that odd 'bridegroom will be taken away from them' statement in verse 20. Jesus is starting out His public ministry with one eye on the end of His public ministry - the goal of His whole earthly life - the dreadful political/religious execution - the terrible cross. The religious insiders understood that in their day and culture, to get forgiveness of sin, you had to take a healthy animal to the temple and have the priests slaughter it. It was costly, time consuming and rather socially embarrassing, but that was the procedure. Jesus knows there is another side to the transaction however, a side so weighty that the Old Testament wanted the Jews to see actual blood being spilled to help them understand its awful gravity: death.
The Bible throughout teaches us that sin is a relational death - essentially a break in relationship with God, Who is the source of our life. Our sin separates us from Life Himself - God, and thus causes us death. Relational death, spiritual death, the death of joy, and in a profoundly mysterious way, even the inevitable death of our physical bodies. Sin equals death. To forgive sin, then, is to undo death, to break death, to overwhelm it with Life. Life (God) has to bring death within himself, and thus defeat it, and eliminate it. This is actually the work of God (who else could even think of doing it?). This is the work of forgiveness. It takes God more than we can readily imagine or understand to forgive our sin - to take our death from us, and to give us back a deathless-life instead.
Yes, the paralytic walked out the door. His physical restoration was only a token - an illustration of a much more profound healing. He was forgiven. We can be forgiven. We can be made alive again. Jesus called Levi to follow Him, and He calls us still. We can respond, we can follow Jesus and in following, turn from our sin and find new life - forgiveness.
In the gospel of Mark, chapter 2, we see Jesus starting His ministry by acting unexpectedly. He teaches "a new teaching with authority!" (Mark 1:27), He has the miraculous ability to heal sick people, His disciples don't fast because He says He is 'the bridegroom' who is present (Mark 2:18-22), He hangs out with sinners and hated tax collectors, preferring them to the self-identified 'righteous' - the insiders (Mark 2:13-17), and He even turns holy tradition on it's head by declaring that the prescribed day of rest (Sabbath) was created to serve humankind, rather than to rule humankind. He is seriously different! All the patterns are being interrupted.
What catches my attention is the much loved story of four faithful men bringing their paralyzed friend to Jesus and having to dig a hole in the roof above Jesus to even reach Him because of the crowds. (That always seems comical to me - the picture of Jesus calmly continuing to teach while plaster falls from the ceiling into His hair!). The obvious need presented to Jesus is for Him to heal the paralyzed man of his physical condition. We'd expect this gracious compassionate Jesus to heal the man. We are not entirely surprised (now that we are in the second chapter of Mark!) to read the paralyzed man came in by the roof, but walked out the door! But...Jesus sees things in an unexpected way.
Jesus first tells the man that his sins are forgiven. Mark teaches us the theological point that only God can forgive sins, so Jesus is proclaiming Himself as God! That's outrageous enough and the religious insiders are scandalized by this. The kicker is...Jesus says it is harder for Him to forgive a man's sins than to heal him of being paralyzed. Woah! Really?
I always thought it was simple for God to forgive me of my sins (i.e. my disobedience towards God, selfishness, ignoring God, pleasing myself and not God etc.). Surely it's just a word and a nod, right? Apparently not - there is more to it than just a royal declaration from God. Huh. This forgiving is hard for God - harder than even curing chronic disease?
Perhaps the hint is in that odd 'bridegroom will be taken away from them' statement in verse 20. Jesus is starting out His public ministry with one eye on the end of His public ministry - the goal of His whole earthly life - the dreadful political/religious execution - the terrible cross. The religious insiders understood that in their day and culture, to get forgiveness of sin, you had to take a healthy animal to the temple and have the priests slaughter it. It was costly, time consuming and rather socially embarrassing, but that was the procedure. Jesus knows there is another side to the transaction however, a side so weighty that the Old Testament wanted the Jews to see actual blood being spilled to help them understand its awful gravity: death.
The Bible throughout teaches us that sin is a relational death - essentially a break in relationship with God, Who is the source of our life. Our sin separates us from Life Himself - God, and thus causes us death. Relational death, spiritual death, the death of joy, and in a profoundly mysterious way, even the inevitable death of our physical bodies. Sin equals death. To forgive sin, then, is to undo death, to break death, to overwhelm it with Life. Life (God) has to bring death within himself, and thus defeat it, and eliminate it. This is actually the work of God (who else could even think of doing it?). This is the work of forgiveness. It takes God more than we can readily imagine or understand to forgive our sin - to take our death from us, and to give us back a deathless-life instead.
Yes, the paralytic walked out the door. His physical restoration was only a token - an illustration of a much more profound healing. He was forgiven. We can be forgiven. We can be made alive again. Jesus called Levi to follow Him, and He calls us still. We can respond, we can follow Jesus and in following, turn from our sin and find new life - forgiveness.
Sunday, January 06, 2013
The First Leper
The first chapter of the gospel of Mark ends with a transition caused by a leper. This man can't stop talking about Jesus, causing Jesus to have to switch from town-center preaching to country preaching.
But my attention is caught by the interaction between the leper and Jesus (Mark 1:40-45). Here it is:
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter. (Mark 1:40-45 ESV)
The leper did three things: He came to Jesus, he implored Jesus - that is he begged Jesus for what he wanted, and he knelt before Jesus.
I think this is a very important sequence, and a guide for anyone of us who needs a touch from Jesus today.
Come to Jesus: Jesus was out in a desolate place at this point (see verse 35), so no-one was around. We wouldn't bump into Jesus here - we would have to search Him out (see verse 36). Lepers were afflicted with a physical sickness - a terrible skin disease. The word 'leper' might mean what we now know as leprosy, or it could also mean a broader range of skin diseases. Either way it was life changing. Lepers were expelled from society to live in the wilderness. So this poor man also had an identity crisis - he was a social outcast, and he had awful loneliness - he was without friends or family, physical hurt, socially hurt and even hurt in his relationship with himself - his very identity. In this condition then - a deep awareness of his need, disease and brokenness, he dares to come to Jesus. This is risky - will Jesus be repulsed and run from him? Imagine the shame, ignominy and how devastating it would be if that were to happen. But what has the leper to lose? So he comes to Jesus. As it happens, this is exactly the best thing to do, to take courage and take the risk of coming to Jesus. God is not a bully, or a severe master, but invites us to come to Him, He waits with immense patience for us to make the move. Our coming indicates to both us and to God that we are ready for what comes next. Today we can 'come to Jesus' wherever we are just by praying to Him. Perhaps it will be good for us to take the risk of going to a good local church, where Jesus is preached and the Bible is read. Perhaps today we can seek out someone we respect as a wise Christian - someone we know who has Jesus in them.
He implored Jesus: The leper used words - perhaps many words, perhaps few words, perhaps asked one time, perhaps repeated, to let Jesus know what he wanted Jesus to do for him. God is not an impersonal force. He is not karma or fate or destiny. No, God is a person. He invites us not to cast a spell to try to change the future, or to forward some email, re-post some Facebook posting or say some rote prayer as if it were a spell to try to change things by magic. No, God Almighty - the One who is over all things - has come down to us in the historical person of Jesus Christ, and who is present to each of us always now - as The Holy Spirit. He is here and He is listening, and He is available. We can expect not a blank face, but a relationship with God The Person. He understands what it is to be us. We can talk to Him with words, or simply pour out our word-less emotions and deepest needs to Him. In short - we can share our minds and hearts with God, and He will hear us and understand us intimately. Beware however - you can never fool God. He will see right through any manipulation or 'spin' that we might try to sell Him. We must approach God with utter honesty. Those who walk the Christian Way will approach God with deep reverence and awe. However God hears the prayers of even babies and spiritual babies. He sees through the words into the heart of each person. The leper came with courage, simplicity and honesty. This is a pattern for us to follow.
He knelt before Jesus: In this simple and profound act he placed himself at Jesus' feet, acknowledged Jesus as Lord and asked Jesus to do what only God can do - to make him whole again. To restore him back into a full person - someone who has self-respect, relationships with others, and who is physically healthy - or at least free or this dreadful isolating disease and shame. If we come to Jesus thinking Jesus is a magic eight-ball, or a genie who grants three wishes, we insult Him and misunderstand God. This man came and kneeled - an act of submission and subservience. We might kneel before someone who holds our fate in His hands. We come with nothing but an honest plea. God is God, but we are temporary and frail - a passing mist, a fading flower. Only God can heal our disease, can renew our identity, and make us whole again. Only He can pierce our loneliness and see us as we truly are - needy and poor. Only He can pour these riches into our lives - health of mind, body and soul - health of relationship with Him and with others.
Mark records for us the leper's actual words: "if you will, you can make me clean" - a two part statement. Full of compassion, Jesus answers both parts separated by a semicolon to emphasis Jesus has noticed both parts of the man's request: for Jesus listens very carefully to us. "I will; be clean".
Yes, Jesus will do us good, because that is His heart! He is full of compassion and kindness to those who come in honest neediness. He can make us clean again: clean in our bodies, clean in our relationships with others, clean in our relationship with ourself, and most profoundly, clean in our relationship with Him. He will even change His plans to make us clean again.
But my attention is caught by the interaction between the leper and Jesus (Mark 1:40-45). Here it is:
And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter. (Mark 1:40-45 ESV)
The leper did three things: He came to Jesus, he implored Jesus - that is he begged Jesus for what he wanted, and he knelt before Jesus.
I think this is a very important sequence, and a guide for anyone of us who needs a touch from Jesus today.
Come to Jesus: Jesus was out in a desolate place at this point (see verse 35), so no-one was around. We wouldn't bump into Jesus here - we would have to search Him out (see verse 36). Lepers were afflicted with a physical sickness - a terrible skin disease. The word 'leper' might mean what we now know as leprosy, or it could also mean a broader range of skin diseases. Either way it was life changing. Lepers were expelled from society to live in the wilderness. So this poor man also had an identity crisis - he was a social outcast, and he had awful loneliness - he was without friends or family, physical hurt, socially hurt and even hurt in his relationship with himself - his very identity. In this condition then - a deep awareness of his need, disease and brokenness, he dares to come to Jesus. This is risky - will Jesus be repulsed and run from him? Imagine the shame, ignominy and how devastating it would be if that were to happen. But what has the leper to lose? So he comes to Jesus. As it happens, this is exactly the best thing to do, to take courage and take the risk of coming to Jesus. God is not a bully, or a severe master, but invites us to come to Him, He waits with immense patience for us to make the move. Our coming indicates to both us and to God that we are ready for what comes next. Today we can 'come to Jesus' wherever we are just by praying to Him. Perhaps it will be good for us to take the risk of going to a good local church, where Jesus is preached and the Bible is read. Perhaps today we can seek out someone we respect as a wise Christian - someone we know who has Jesus in them.
He implored Jesus: The leper used words - perhaps many words, perhaps few words, perhaps asked one time, perhaps repeated, to let Jesus know what he wanted Jesus to do for him. God is not an impersonal force. He is not karma or fate or destiny. No, God is a person. He invites us not to cast a spell to try to change the future, or to forward some email, re-post some Facebook posting or say some rote prayer as if it were a spell to try to change things by magic. No, God Almighty - the One who is over all things - has come down to us in the historical person of Jesus Christ, and who is present to each of us always now - as The Holy Spirit. He is here and He is listening, and He is available. We can expect not a blank face, but a relationship with God The Person. He understands what it is to be us. We can talk to Him with words, or simply pour out our word-less emotions and deepest needs to Him. In short - we can share our minds and hearts with God, and He will hear us and understand us intimately. Beware however - you can never fool God. He will see right through any manipulation or 'spin' that we might try to sell Him. We must approach God with utter honesty. Those who walk the Christian Way will approach God with deep reverence and awe. However God hears the prayers of even babies and spiritual babies. He sees through the words into the heart of each person. The leper came with courage, simplicity and honesty. This is a pattern for us to follow.
He knelt before Jesus: In this simple and profound act he placed himself at Jesus' feet, acknowledged Jesus as Lord and asked Jesus to do what only God can do - to make him whole again. To restore him back into a full person - someone who has self-respect, relationships with others, and who is physically healthy - or at least free or this dreadful isolating disease and shame. If we come to Jesus thinking Jesus is a magic eight-ball, or a genie who grants three wishes, we insult Him and misunderstand God. This man came and kneeled - an act of submission and subservience. We might kneel before someone who holds our fate in His hands. We come with nothing but an honest plea. God is God, but we are temporary and frail - a passing mist, a fading flower. Only God can heal our disease, can renew our identity, and make us whole again. Only He can pierce our loneliness and see us as we truly are - needy and poor. Only He can pour these riches into our lives - health of mind, body and soul - health of relationship with Him and with others.
Mark records for us the leper's actual words: "if you will, you can make me clean" - a two part statement. Full of compassion, Jesus answers both parts separated by a semicolon to emphasis Jesus has noticed both parts of the man's request: for Jesus listens very carefully to us. "I will; be clean".
Yes, Jesus will do us good, because that is His heart! He is full of compassion and kindness to those who come in honest neediness. He can make us clean again: clean in our bodies, clean in our relationships with others, clean in our relationship with ourself, and most profoundly, clean in our relationship with Him. He will even change His plans to make us clean again.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sandy Hook
The events at Sandy Hook are a horrible tragedy. The initial reactions of so many were, of
course, an outpouring of horror and grief. Then came other voices. Sometimes it is better not to react but to respond. Our reactions are not always our best moments. A little time to reflect is helpful. I am glad to have a few days to think and pray before wanting to respond.
Some want instant revenge, but the perpetrator is dead. Where will our revenging energy now direct?
Some are calling for gun control. I am sure that conversation is appropriate
and will no doubt happen.
I think a
conversation about the effect of saturation news coverage and the infamy that such
deranged shooters seek – that conversation needs to be had.
I think a conversation about mental health
and how we make it OK to suffer mentally needs to be had.
Also the issue of allowing loneliness in our
crowded society – and the evil that loneliness is.
Then the role of violent video games on
growing minds. We know advertising works - it’s a trillion dollar industry. So bathing young minds in games where they
blow away people – that’s a conversation that needs to be had.
Then the role of family, and the effects of
family breakup (The murderer's parents had divorced three years ago).
However, I am sure that the 24 hour news
cycle will make this horror fade from view quite quickly. When the funerals are over we will be into
Christmas and then then Fiscal Cliff will be the next item of blanket coverage.
So let's see how we react to Sandy Hook: individually, community, nationally. As for me, I want to be sure that no-one around me in isolated , lonely, or suffering mentally without recognition and help. I will ensure my gun is well locked where only I know the location of the key. i will listen out for the gun control conversation and make my views known. I will not use this wicked man's name, or feed his infamy in death.
Then I will leave revenge to God. Christ is the judge. Will not the judge of all the earth do right?
Our Father, may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Celebrating Faithful Leadership
It was the Sunday before Thanksgiving, so it was even more special. The District Superintendent had been invited and gave a nice speech, there was a letter from the presiding General Superintendent, and in classic Church of the Nazarene style, a significant church dinner. Congratulations to my friend and 'brother in the Lord' Geoff DeFranca. This is how a church should love their pastor - intentionally, and conferring dignity. I have written elsewhere that real love always confers dignity on the person loved. This was a great example of that agape-love at work. Well done Community Chapel, Nashua NH and well done Geoff. Please invite me to your 20th also!
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