Forgiveness: Part II
I’ve just finished reading “The Shock of Conscience” by Rob Baker in Parabola Magazine in the issue on Forgiveness. He begins his essay by noting that we seldom equate Broadway musicals such as Les Miserables with “serious ideas of a spiritual nature. The musical glossed over the inner struggles of Valjean and Javert in spite of several powerful songs. Baker wrote:
“The miserable ones are not so much the starving masses or the politically oppressed as they are the spiritually bankrupt, those individuals who cannot forgive others or themselves.”
Both men came from impoverished backgrounds, Valjean serving 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread and Javert becoming a “self-appointed prosecutor of the Law”. Valjean, the thief, is saved and redeemed through the power of loving forgiveness. Javert, the policeman, is driven to extremes of vengeance because of his complete inability to forgive.
Valjean sought to transform his life in the midst of social and political chaos, learning from and growing through his suffering. Javert, driven by hatred and the turmoil of an inner rage, denied even the possibility of hope and redemption. Valjean ‘won’ through acts of compassion for and surrender to Javert.
“…the real revolution remains an inner struggle for clarity and wholeness…an acceptance of his suffering and something higher that has come to rule his life.”
Is it possible that Valjean and Javert are the opposite sides of the same coin? Is it possible that our inner conflict comes not from the world around us, but from the unforgiven/unforgivable within us? We teach, preach and practice forgiveness of others, but have we learned to forgive ourselves as well?
Rev. Claudia Naylor
