“There is nothing on earth we can share. It is either Valjean or Javert!” - Javert
In the musical Les Misérables, Jean Valjean and Javert represent two diverging paths. These two paths begin in the slums of Paris. We are only afforded the slightest glimpse of these origin stories, hints of Javert’s birth in a jail cell and the crippling poverty that had Jean Valjean resort to theft to feed his niece. Although the musical does not linger on both men’s beginnings, for our purposes, it is important to remember these men were born with nothing. Any success or prosperity they achieved is a direct result of their chosen path. Javert became the law man. Jean Valjean became the grace man.
If we approach this musical with fresh eyes, pretending we do not know the entirety of the story, we might believe Javert chose the correct path. The beginning scene, of Jean Valjean in chains and Javert in a spotless uniform is a testament to Javert’s success. Javert followed the law. Jean Valjean did not. Although they both came from the bottom, Javert rose above the filth. Jean Valjean wallowed in it. Obviously Javert is the hero of the story. He worked hard and followed the rules. I am sure that the musical is going to tell us exactly why we should be more like Javert…but it doesn’t.
If we let our memories return, set aside those fresh eyes, we know this beginning presents a sharp contrast to the end. While Javert might be a hero in this world, our world, he is not a hero in God’s world. You can go to Barnes and Noble and pick out any of thousands of books that echo Javert, “I played by the rules, and won. And if you do what I do, you can too!” But if you want a book that is more interesting and will be around longer than a year, I recommend stories with a bit of grace. Maybe that is why, whether through music or the written word, we keep coming back to this story of a wretch named Jean Valjean. We do not need another story about a lawman, but our souls long for the reassurance of the grace man.
Without God, Jean Valjean is nothing. In the world of Javert, a world that has no room for Jean Valjean, the only path away from prison and the just reward for sins, is a path towards God. A path that begins with a moment of grace. Shortly after his release from prison, Jean Valjean seeks shelter at an abbey and is welcomed by Bishop Myriel. Jean Valjean repays this kindness by stealing from the church. As he tries to flee with his ill-gotten gains, he is caught and brought before the Bishop. In the world Jean Valjean knew, the bishop would have had him taken back to prison and left to rot. But that isn’t what happens. Jean Valjean encounters God’s world.
Instead of punishment, the bishop motes out grace. Not only does Bishop Myriel pardon Jean Valjean, he lets him keep the silver and then hands him two silver candlesticks, saying, “But remember this, my brother, see in this some higher plan. You must use this precious silver to become an honest man. By the witness of the martyrs, by the passion and the blood. God has raised you out of darkness. I have brought your soul for God.” The world saw a wretch. Bishop Myriel saw a child of God, and that made all the difference.
"He told me that I have a soul. How does he know? What spirit comes to move my life? Is there another way to go? I am reaching, but I fall and the night is closing in. As I stare into the void, to the whirlpool of sin. I’ll escape now from that world, from the world of Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean is nothing now, another story must begin." - Jean Valjean
In one moment, 24601, the wretch of the world dies, and is reborn to a life in God’s world. Jean Valjean witnesses the enormity of his sins, the distance between him and God, and realizes that the world he has known and lived into is not compatible with that God invites him towards. Like a mustard seed, that small act of grace sparked a small amount of faith. Faith that proved enough to grow into a life that emulated God’s kingdom. Jean Valjean, the man who the world could only see as a failure or know as a number, disappears, and is reborn as Monsieur Lemet.
"There is nothing on earth we can share. It is either Valjean or Javert!" - Javert
You can dislike Javert, but you should not hate him. To hate him, you would have to despise him more than he despises himself, and that is a tall order. Javert loathes his origins, despises the rabble who are closer to him, than those he aspires to be with. By no fault of his own, Javert was born in a jail, sentenced and condemned from birth. Is it any wonder that one who only knew lawlessness would aspire to some order, some code to keep out the chaos?
Towards the end of Les Misérables, Javert gets his first taste of grace. After the revolutionaries realize Javert has been a spy in their midst, they move to execute him. Before complete their grim task, Jean Valjean calls in a favor and has Javert released into his custody. The revolutionaries and Javert believe Jean Valjean is going to use this moment to exact his revenge. Instead, he releases Javert and forgives him, saying, “I am a man no worse than any man. You are free, no conditions, no bargains or petitions. There is nothing that I blame you for. You’ve done your duty, nothing more.”
In one move, Jean Valjean upends Javert’s world. Finally, both men have been affected by grace. However, Javert’s path takes a darker turn.
“And now I must begin to doubt, who never doubted all these years? My heart is stone and still it trembles. The world I have known is lost in shadow. Is he from heaven or from hell? And does he know, that granting me my life today, this man has killed me even so. I am reaching but I fall and the stars are black and cold. As I stare into the void of a world that cannot hold. I’ll escape now from that world, from the world of Jean Valjean. There is nowhere I can turn. There is no way to go on!” - Javert
Grace was the beginning of Jean Valjean’s life. For Javert, grace is his undoing. Since Jean Valjean chose God’s world, the only path left for Javert was one of destruction. We know Javert chooses death because he cannot live in a world where one he deemed evil, the fugitive 24601, could risk his own life to save Javert’s. The man of grace offers love to one who would destroy him. The man who rose from destruction of the world, falls apart in the face of love. That is the tragedy that lingers after the curtain falls. For that man who stared into the abyss, the world of right and wrong was too enticing, and could not match one where everything was more gray.
As the embodiment of this world, of one chained to certainties and judgements, Javert’s demise reminds us that choosing a world of grace is no small thing. Javert dies in the face of grace, because grace does not exist alongside certainty and judgement. Our lives are much the same.
If we desire grace, we need to realize why law and order is not sufficient. Javert is a testament to the success one can achieve if they stay in line and never err, but his rigidness and passion amount to a half-life. A life of law and order can create structure in chaos, but that is all it can do. Law and order create walls, without ever asking why they have been constructed, or what is being kept out or contained within. To question is to risk being back in chaos, and anything is better than chaos. This would be true, and even the best answer, if this was only a world of humans, because stringent laws and unquestioned order are the best we can do as humans. Thank goodness for God. Thank God for grace.
To know that we are so loved that Christ would die for our sins is simultaneously the greatest joy, the most humbling prospect, and a terrifying conundrum. To know grace is to find forgiveness and love even though we do not deserve it. We cannot deserve it, and nothing we do can merit it. And all of this goes against the world we have known, the world of the lawman. Javert thrived because he knew his place and could figure out where everyone else belonged, but God is not content with such a world.
To know grace is to realize that you truly cannot pass judgement on another, to think yourself better than or worse than another child of God, because, without Christ, any trespass or sin, no matter how great or small, would keep us from salvation. Can we handle such a world?
Every day, every time you find yourself despairing at the world you see or struggle to care for another, you must choose whether you want the world of the lawperson or the world of the grace person. You cannot have both.
Yes, this is a huge ask. If you are anything like me, when faced with the prospect of grace, you ask, “but what about that person? Or, God, you cannot truly mean that I have to love everyone? Surely I can pick and choose who I spend time with or love?” Know that doubt is natural, that this life of grace we are invited to is not easy, in fact it is the hardest thing, because it requires undoing everything. Not to tear down walls and fall into chaos, but to tear down falls and fall into the loving arms of God. Let it be so. Amen.
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