Les Miserables: A New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)

In Les Miserables, Jean Valjean is a convict, hardened by nineteen years in prison. A bishop shows him mercy, giving him silver candlesticks, calling him brother. Valjean tears up his parole papers and becomes someone new—a mayor, a factory owner, a father figure. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone; the new has come. Valjean does not improve; he is transformed. The bishop does not reform him; grace remakes him. The old convict is dead; a new man walks out with candlesticks. That is what new creation means—not better, but different entirely.