The Candlesticks That Bought a Soul

In the 2012 film Les Misérables, Jean Valjean stumbles into a bishop's home after nineteen years in prison. He is hardened, bitter, reduced to a number. The bishop feeds him, gives him a bed. Valjean repays this kindness by stealing the silver and disappearing into the night.

When the police drag him back, stolen silver in hand, the bishop does the unthinkable. He tells the officers he gave the silver as a gift. Then he turns to Valjean and presses two candlesticks into his hands — the most precious items he owns — and whispers, "I have bought your soul for God."

That moment breaks something open in Valjean. Not punishment, but grace. Not what he earned, but what he could never deserve. Hugh Jackman's face crumbles as Valjean falls to his knees, tears up his yellow ticket of leave, and begins the agonizing, beautiful work of becoming a new man.

This is the gospel in a single scene. The Apostle Paul writes that we are "new creations" in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Transformation never begins when we finally get ourselves together. It begins when unmerited mercy meets us at our lowest. The Almighty does not wait until we are worthy. He hands us the candlesticks while the stolen silver is still warm in our pockets.

Grace does not overlook what we have done. It overwrites who we believed we were.