When I was a child, I used to watch PBS quite a bit, probably because we didn’t have cable.
Nowadays, I couldn’t even tell you what channel PBS is on, but last week I stumbled across it when I saw that they were playing the Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert.
So instead of watching Glee, I turned on Les Miserables and listened to one of the first musicals I ever fell in love with.
But the reasons we fall in love when we’re a teenager are not, necessarily, the same things that draw us in when we’re an adult.
I remember as a kid loving Les Miserables because the heartache spoke to me, because of the plight of Fantine and Jean Valjean; the way they hurt spoke to the hurt inside of me.
Now, as an adult, I listen to Les Miserables and I still hear the heartache, but I also hear hope and redemption, grace and love.
Jean Valjean’s transformation from a bitter ex-convict to a man who risks his own life to save the life of another is made possible thanks to one single act of grace shown to Valjean from a bishop early in the story.
Having been released from prison and unable to find work, Valjean finds shelter in the house of a bishop who offers him a place to stay and food. Valjean uses the opportunity though to steal silverware from the bishop and flee.
But when he is later caught, Valjean is shocked when the bishop claims the silverware was a gift, and then takes it step further by saying that Valjean has forgotten his other “gifts,” promptly handing over to him silver candlesticks as well.
This single act of grace motivates Valjean the remainder of the story. When one of his workers, Fantine, dies as a result of trying to earn money for her daughter, Valjean adopts Cosette as his own. Later, Valjean joins the students who are rebelling against the French army and saves Cosette’s love, Marius.
And when given an opportunity to kill Javert, the man who has hunted him since his prison days, Valjean shows mercy and lets him live.
Just before he dies, Valjean’s final words are these: “To love another person is to see the face of God.”
Even writing these words makes me want to cry. To hear them sung moves me to tears each and every time.
At its core, Les Miserables is a story of love and what we are willing to sacrifice for that love. Fantine sacrifices her life for her daughter’s. Marius risks his life for the love of his brothers and fellow rebels. Eponine sacrifices her life to fight with her true love Marius. And Valjean risks his life to save his daughter Cosette’s love, Marius.
God is ever present in the story.
Not once, but twice, Valjean prays, first for Marius and his safety and then for himself as he’s about to die.
To love another person is to see the face of God.
It is a theme to live by, a theme to remember always.
