Javert is the
perfect advocate for justice. His song, “Stars”,
demonstrates his concept of justice. He
believes every fault must be met with punishment for the crime and justice for
those involved. His job as an enforcer
of the law grants him the ability to see to it justice is served. He wouldn’t allow even himself to escape
justice. When he believed he had
wrongfully accused the mayor of being Valjean, he presented himself to the
mayor to answer for his apparent crime.
Valjean also
believed strongly that justice must be served in the beginning of the
story. His concept of justice was
different than that held by Javert. He
believed he had been wronged by the world—a world that deprived him of freedom
for simply wanting to eat. He believed
he owed nothing to this world, because it was only just that he gave nothing to
a world that gave him only heartache and grief.
After suffering for several years under the hands of justice for the
crime of stealing bread, Valjean found himself free in a world that continued
to hand him hardship. He was bitter and
angry about the injustice of it.
Yet mercy found
Jean Valjean through the hands of the bishop.
From the mercy extended by this bishop, Valjean discovered Jesus Christ
and determined he would learn how to love again. From that moment on, Valjean could be found
extending mercy to anybody he found in need of it. He would demand mercy anytime it was
necessary to save another. He would
become the advocate of mercy even to extent of granting it to his enemy, the
inspector Javert.
I like comparing
the similarities in the two men. In the
start of the story, the two men are in conflict with each other because both
believe in justice but have a different understanding of what it means. Both men try to live in service of God, whom
they love very much. Both men come upon
a time when their lives are in the hands of another person, and the other
person had every reason to cause them pain, suffering, or death. Both men receive mercy at the hands of that
person and face a moment of crisis—a perfect opportunity to become better men—because
of it. But the two men handle that
crisis very differently.
Javert couldn’t
grasp the concept of forgiveness required by the mercy he extended. Jean Valjean had been a criminal. Javert couldn’t reconcile the image of the
criminal with the man of mercy he had met.
He could see that Valjean had become a better man than he, willing to
forgive those who had hurt him. But he
couldn’t understand it, nor could he accept it.
And he couldn’t accept that he had given mercy to a man who had been a
criminal. This lack of understanding or
acceptance led him to his death.
For Jean Valjean the
mercy he received caused him to reflect upon the grotesque hatred and furry in
his life. He would come out of it with
the resolve to become the better man he ultimately became later. He understood the need for justice and had
paid a price for justice in his life.
But he also knew there was a place for mercy, and he constantly looked
for these opportunities.
I love the part
at the end just after he departs life.
The story closes by taking us with Jean Valjean as he enters a world
where freedom has prevailed rather than the world were those fighting for
freedom died at the barricade. The point
is that Jean Valjean had paid for his mistakes in life, and he had chosen to
become a good man. So he earned a place
in a world of freedom and mercy.
There are so many
good lessons revolving around faith that we can take from this story. At different times in my life, different
lessons have stood at to me. But the one
that stands out to me right now at this moment is that justice and mercy can be
reconciled. Though the two concepts seem
to be at odds with each other, they both must be served. Otherwise a time will come when justice for
all will create a conflict that can’t be resolved.
Mercy requires a
mediator who has no part in the fault.
Only Jesus Christ has walked on earth free of fault. True reconciliation between justice and mercy
can only come because of Jesus Christ, the great Mediator. And only those who come to Him in faith will
have access to that mercy. Part of
coming to Him in life involves learning to extend mercy. So extend mercy when you see somebody fallen
under a burden of cares that is crushing their body or their soul. Extend mercy when you see somebody oppressed
by life or people around them. Extend
mercy when somebody who has hurt you in anyway stands before you. Forgive them.
And while you’re at it, don’t forget to extend mercy to yourself. Forgive yourself.
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