The Silver Candlesticks

In Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, a convict named Jean Valjean stumbles to the door of Bishop Myriel after nineteen years in prison. The bishop feeds him, gives him a bed, and treats him like an honored guest. Valjean repays this kindness by stealing the bishop's silver in the middle of the night.

When the police drag Valjean back the next morning, the bishop does something no one expects. He tells the officers that the silver was a gift. Then he picks up two silver candlesticks from the mantle and presses them into Valjean's hands, saying he forgot to take them. After the police leave, the bishop leans close and whispers that he has purchased Valjean's soul — not for darkness, but for God.

That undeserved mercy breaks something open in Valjean. It becomes the hinge on which his entire life turns, transforming a bitter man into one who spends the rest of his days pouring out sacrificial love for others.

Hugo understood what the apostle Paul wrote to the Romans: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." The love of God does not wait for us to become worthy. It meets us with stolen silver still in our hands and says, "You are worth more than what you have done."

That is the love we are called to receive — and to give.