I’m not very good at this blog thing, but here’s goes blog
post #2.
I’ll start with a few topical observations:
- Cambridge gets very little snow
- It feels a lot colder when cycling
- It is possible to wear a hat that has a glove inside it without noticing said glove
- It is impossible (or very hard) to buy warm gloves on the high street at a reasonable price
The snowman that we might have built if there was enough snow
The other day someone’s facebook status was the quote ‘to
love another person is to see the face of God’. My thought process went
something along these lines *Nice quote....I recognise it....where from?...
must be from the bible...Oh no I’m late! Get off facebook now* And so the quote
was forgotten until later when I was watching Les Mis. To those who are not
familiar with this amazing musical/film, the aforementioned quote is from the
Les Mis finale not, in fact, from the bible at all. My thought process then
went along these lines *Of course its not from the Bible, stupid Becca, its
heretical, the face of God is far more amazing than that, beyond our
comprehension ..... No actually God IS Love. Love is an amazing God-given gift
that is beyond our full comprehension, maybe it’s not so heretical afterall*
There were two things that struck me whilst watching Les
Mis, firstly the fact that I had mistaken a Les Mis quote for a biblical one,
and secondly just how many biblical themes there are.
*Spoilers alert*
Firstly GRACE.
Essentially the basis of the storyline. It begins with the old man (I think
he was a priest, maybe?) with a gift of extreme kindness by offering Jean
Valjean food and lodging for the night, despite having very little. Then, when Valjean
decides to ‘take the silver and take my FLLLLLLIIIIIGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTT!’ and
manages to get caught, the old man offers him mercy by telling the police he
had given Valjean the silver. However he goes further than that and shows hime
grace by giving him the silver and more. He tells him to use the silver to
become a better man.
This has amazing parallels with the bible. *Disclaimer – no analogy
is perfect, read the bible to get the real thing* For one thing we have turned
our back on God who gave us everything like Valjean did with that old man. But
when God came to earth as Jesus and died that horrendous death on the cross. He
not only showed us mercy taking away our judgement, but also showed us grace by
allowing us to become his children ‘heirs with Christ’. In accepting that
grace, God sends his spirit to help us throw off the chains of sin and become
more like Christ; ‘a better man’.
But the biblical themes don’t end there. In contrast to
Valjean, you have Gavert. A man bound by the law. He is not innately a bad man,
he just has an unwavering faith in the law, missing the point of the law in the
first place, which should be to protect society. Valjean, in a bid to feed his
family, members of that society, stole some bread thereby breaking the law. In
Gavert’s eyes he was a bad man ‘once a thief always a thief’ and cannot
comprehend the acts of kindness that he witnesses Valjean undertaking, most
notably when Valjean lets Gavert walk free. Sadly this ends with Gavert
commiting suicide unable to cope with this departure from what he believed to
be true.
This has stark parallels with the Pharisees and teachers of
the law in the bible who were no worse than you or I. But they had an
unwavering faith in the Law and missed the point entirely. We’re doing a bible
marathon in college at the moment and I ended up reading Deuteronomy for an
hour. I can see how easy it is to be bogged down in detail, but reading such a
large chunk helped me see the purpose of the law, to love and serve God and to
be a people living for him. God’s covenant (promise) to his people was very one
sided. I will give you everything, a land flowing with milk and honey, just
love me. I don’t know why each Pharisee followed the law, but they had missed
this concept of love. At one point Jesus healed a man, but being a Sabbath, the
Pharisees objected. Jesus rebuked them, I can’t remember exactly how, but to
paraphrase, he said ‘you’re missing the point!’ And then, ultimately for those
Pharisees who continued to the unwavering trust in legalism and legalism alone,
sadly it lead to death.
I’ve rambled on for far too long so brief one sentence
comments on other themes, see if you agree with me:
- Jean Valjean – always striving, never satisfied - the world can’t fulfil.
- Eponine – Idolised Marius to the point of death (although this is clearer in the musical than the film) – people are not suitable idols.
- Finale – the grip of death gone – the theme of hope
- Little People - they're important too (in both Les Mis and the bible!)
I’m sure there are others, but I’m an engineer so deeper
meaning are lost on me :P
One last thing, I was disappointed with the ending, although
my problem lies with Victor Hugo, not the film producers. Marius fights for the
rights of the poor. The uprising is quashed, and he finds a girl, so he goes
back to his nice sheltered rich life. He’s just seen all his friends die for a
cause that he then gives up on?!!! //rant
And finally, if you’re in a place that’s lacking in snow
like Cambridge, here’s a video of how to make snow from water: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpCvrJ3LE6k
Unfortunately it needs to be -41oC to work!
