Forgiveness

Sermon 1 in Portraits of Grace in Les Miserables:  Lessons in Galatians

Preached at FBC, Cornelia on Sunday, January 13, 2013

Scripture:  Galatians 1:1-5

Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2and all the members of God’s family who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Movement 1:  Introductions

            Over the next several weeks I invite you to consider the theological and biblical concept called Grace.  What a beautiful word.  It’s such a beautiful word it has made its way into our everyday language.  We say grace over our meals.  We live in the South so we have learned to exhibit grace in a variety of settings.  For example, when the going gets tough, we are taught to display grace under fire.  In social circles, we are expected to be graceful. 

In some ways, grace has become so common we miss its power in the biblical story.  We can’t understand how grace could almost split the fledging Christian movement just as it beginning to grow.  We over look the disagreements over grace between some of New Testaments most respected leaders. In the New Testament grace was so vital and important to the message of the Gospel – Paul risked his life and ministry for the sake of it.

Over these weeks, I will use two different sources to help us reflect and exegete (draw out) the biblical meaning of Grace in our lives. 

First, we will use the New Testament book of Galatians.  Paul wrote this letter to the churches in Galatia in the year 49 AD for one specific purpose:  To persuade them that when it comes to salvation, God’s grace found in the death and resurrection of Jesus is enough.  Grace is enough. 

The churches in the Southern half of the Roman province of Galatia were special to Paul.  Not long after Paul and Barnabas were commissioned as missionaries by the church in Antioch, they found themselves on the Via Sebaste – Roman Road that crossed through the southern part of modern day Turkey.  In towns like Antioch of Pisidia and Iconium and Lystra – Paul preached first to the Jews and then when he was turned away – to the Gentiles.  Over and over again in town after town, people, hungry for the Gospel of Jesus, flocked to hear Paul and respond to the message of Jesus.  This was not easy work, though.  Citizens in these communities ran Paul and Barnabas out of several towns, once even stoning them and leaving Paul for dead.  The missionaries faced all of these challenges because they knew the grace found in Jesus Christ transforms lives. 

After Paul leaves the region, though, someone else moves in.  Other Jewish leaders move into the region with a different message.  Simply, they preached grace is not enough for salvation.  They viewed Christianity as a deeper expression of Judaism.  In order to become a Christian one also had to become Jewish and follow the religious laws of Judaism.  Word finally gets back to Paul about what these false prophets – Judiazers as they were called - are teaching the churches in Galatia.  In fact, several Gentiles in the churches were waiting to be circumcised – a true sign of how bad the situation was.

Paul writes this letter to Galatians to persuade them to abandon their need to live under the law of Judaism and, as he says in the preamble in v. 4, to set them free from the present evil age. 

Grace abounds in Galatians.  For us in our exegesis of grace – the Book of Galatians provides the foundation for understanding how grace fits into God’s plan.  Paul provides us a biblical rationale – passionate letter in defense of Grace - to understand grace in our lives.  

I want to use another source, though, to help us view grace from the heart side.  As much as grace is to be understood, grace is also to be lived and received and extended.  To help grasp the heart side of grace – we will examine several portraits of grace found in the story of Les Miserables. 

            Stories and music strike our hearts in ways that reason or dialogue often cannot.  Stories and music draw us into a situation and allow us to experience difficult concepts as much as understand them.  They loosen the soil of our souls inviting God’s Spirit to move in new ways.  This is one of the main reasons Jesus used so many parables to explain the Kingdom of God. 

            For those unfamiliar with the story of Les Miserables, I’ve provided a brief summary on your worship guide.  The novel was written by Victor Hugo, the author of The Hunch back of Notre Dame, in 1862.  Hugo wrote this massive volume of literature – literally 1,200 pages – as a way of exploring the political, cultural, and religious turmoil that marked French history from the time of the French Revolution in 1789 to the middle of the 19^th Century. 

            Behind all of this history, or maybe in front of it all – lies one of the most moving and powerful stories in literature.  Les Miserables has been moving readers and audiences from the time of its first publication til the present.  The story became the first full length movie in 1905.  It was turned into a megahit Broadway musical in 1985.  What set this musical apart from many others before or since is the operatic forms it used.  Rather than characters acting and then turning to sing, the entire musical is one long score from the beginning to end. 

            If you haven’t heard, this musical has just been released as a major movie on Christmas Day.  It’s not yet showing at our Habersham Hills, but it is playing in Gainesville and Commerce. 

            Here’s how I will use the story and the musical to help us explore grace.  Each week, we will have a short scene from the musical performed as worship.  These scenes have been chosen to paint a picture of one aspect of God’s grace.  My prayer is that these scenes will invite us to not only explore God’s grace, but also invite us to experience grace in new and growing ways. 

            As we move forward in worship today, let invite you to prepare your hearts and your minds to experience and explore the heart of the Gospel:  God’s grace! 

Movement 2:  Portrait of Grace Scene:  The Bishop and Jean Valjean

            The story of Les Miserables revolves around the protagonist, Jean Valjean.  Our scene today comes from the very beginning of the narrative.  After 19 years of hard labor in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family, Valjean has been struggling with his freedom.  No one wants to hire an ex-con.  No one treats him like a human being.  He flees from town to town.  Because of these experiences, Valjean has become bitter, hardened, and angry.  The only person willing to give him shelter is the Father Muriel, the bishop of Digne.  In the middle of the night, though, Valjean takes advantage of the bishop, steals the silver cutlery from the house and escapes into the night.  Our scene begins with Valjean’s capture and his return to face the bishop he has swindled. 

[scene]

[Choir sings]

Movement 3:  Forgiven

            Our experience of Grace begins with forgiveness. 

            When Jean Valjean kneels before the bishop, the consequences of his actions sit like a weight upon his shoulders.  His future is now set in stone.  He will be thrown back into dark, brutal prison system of 18^th Century France.  He will spend the rest of life doing hard labor in the galleys and shipyards of France.  He will die a lonely death surrounded by no one.  His fate is to only grow bitterer, angrier, and more harden.  He will never love and or be loved.  He will never experience joy or happiness.  His life will never matter.  As he waits for the bishop’s judgment he knows he is destined to hell on earth.

            Instead of judgment, though, he hears a completely unexpected pronouncement.  Handing two silver candlesticks to Valjean, the bishop sings forgiveness instead of:  “You forgot, I gave you these also, would you leave the best behind?”  In an unexpected instance, instead of a life of confinement, Valjean is given freedom.  His crimes have been wiped away, made clear, erased.  He has been forgiven. 

             The Bishop sings to the stunned Valjean:  “By the witness of the martyrs, by the passion and the blood, God has raised you out of darkness, I have bought your soul for God!”

            Forgiveness is a gift into our lives.  There is nothing we can ever do to earn forgiveness.  However, while it is free to us – it comes at costly price.

            Jean Valjean steals the only items of any value in the Bishop’s home.  And yet, when it comes to making the sacrifice on behalf of another person, the bishop takes it one step further – he releases his final and most valuable possession – the 2 candlesticks – to Valjean.  The gift of forgiveness comes at price to the Bishop.  All Valjean must do is receive the forgiveness, freely given on his behalf. 

            My favorite Renaissance Painter was the Dutchman Rembrandt.   Rembrandt painted a picture similar to the scene we experienced today from Les Mis.  The painting is title “The return of the prodigal son.”  In the painting, The Loving father stands above a kneeling prodigal, hands placed on the shoulders with light covering them like a divine spotlight.  The prodigal, shaven head bowed, leans into his father’s chest and arms.  His clothes are tattered, barely hanging upon his shoulders.  His left foot is exposed, with pieces of shoe lying on the ground – having fallen apart from the long journey home.  Behind the father in darkness sits the elder brother stewing at the scene before him. 

The son has just returned home.  He waits like Jean Valjean for the father’s judgment.  After years of squandering the wealth and assests of his father what does he deserve?  To be enslaved in the fields of the father; to be cast off as a dead son?  All of these would be justified. 

Instead of judgment, though, the father surprises everyone.  He welcomes his son home, throws his arms around him, puts new clothes on his back, gives him a bath, and throws a party.  “My son who was dead is now alive,”
he says. 

            I love this painting of the prodigal son in the same way I love the scene from Les Miserables.  In creative ways, they reveal to me the power of forgiveness in my life.  I can easily imagine myself kneeling before the bishop or my father, waiting for my sentence.  My sins have separated me from God.  I deserve to be cast off, to be enslaved, to live a bitter and lonely life.   Yet – God offers me forgiveness instead of judgment.  . 

            In the same way the bishop’s gift to Valjean cost him something, the grace and forgiveness given to the prodigal cost the father something.  Half of his assests and wealth had been spent on useless endeavors.  They would never return. 

            When it comes to forgiveness, Paul wants us to know both how free it is and how priceless it is at the same time. 

“Grace to you” Paul says, “and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be the glory for ever and ever.”

           

            All of us in this room need God’s forgiveness today.  Each of us kneels like Jean Valjean or the Prodigal – helpless, powerless, poor, and guilty – before our heavenly father.  We all deserve to be cast away, to live lives of desperation.  There is nothing we can do – no act of contrition, no good deeds, no religious actions – to remove this stain from our lives.

            Yet through the grace of God, Jesus offers us forgiveness.  In the same way that we cannot remove the stain of sin form our lives, there is also nothing we can do to earn God’s forgiveness. 

            Jesus offers us forgiveness free of charge.  However, this forgiveness is not free.  It cost God and Jesus a great deal.  Paul states it this way – “While we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us.”  Our sins cost Jesus his life. 

            This morning, I know there are some of us here who still carry around a great weight of guilt upon your shoulders for past sins:  sins where you were younger and foolish, sins when you were away from home, sins that we hide from the people who love us the most; sin which invade your dreams and keep you up at night.

            Today – I stand before you as God’s representative. I offer you this word of grace for your life. 

By the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God seeks this day to raise you out of the darkness that has covered you for so many years.  Today, Jesus, God’s son, has bought your soul for God and says – be free.  Be free my son, my daughter.  Leave this guilt and this son on my shoulders.  Go from this place today rejoicing in the freedom I have now received. 

All we must do is receive it.  It’s gift to you by the grace and love of Jesus.  Thanks be God. 

Prayer