Grace, Mercy and Les Miserables

Mercy is not being given a punishment that we deserve. It is not being punished as our Sin deserves.

If I were a high school student and didn’t do my homework, I deserve to be given a detention. The teacher would show mercy on me if they decided not to give me the detention.

Grace is loving someone despite the wrong they have done. In short Grace is the undeserved love of God.

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In the 2012 film Les Miserables, Valjean, a convict who has broken his parole, is taken in by a Bishop. Valjean decides to run off with the Bishop’s silverware. He is caught by a policeman and brought back to the Bishop. The Bishop shows mercy on Valjean by saying to the policeman that he had given the silver to Valjean. This act of mercy ensures that Valjean does not get punished. The Bishop then shows Grace to Valjean by letting him keep the silver, telling him to use it to make him a better man. The Bishop has shown Valjean love which he doesn’t deserve.

Through Jesus, God our Father uses mercy and grace to atone for our sins and to bring us salvation.

For more on sin and atonement see: Sin and Atonement, Atonement Part II

For more on salvation see: Salvation

For more Theological examples using Les Miserables, see: The Theology of Love, Part IV

All you need is love … well, Faith!

Oxforddictionaries.com define faith as complete trust or confidence in someone or something, or strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.

For Christians, faith is the belief in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection (see Eschatology). Christians cannot scientifically proof Jesus’ death and resurrection, but despite this, they believe that Jesus is the source of their Salvation.

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A good example of faith is Love. We (as far as I am aware), cannot fully explain or prove the existence of love. There have been countless books written about love and possibly even more songs. The Beatles famously sung All you need is love. It seems like The Beatles were pretty sold on the concept of love. Yet, I’ve never heard anyone tell me that it doesn’t exist. Somehow we have faith in love.

Jesus is the love and the Bible is the book which is written about it. There have also been countless songs (and hymns) written about Jesus.

Jesus in John 15:13 told us that “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” It is the love of Jesus, dying on the cross to Atone for our sins which Christians have faith in. In Ephesians 2:8 the Bible also teaches that it is through faith in Jesus that Salvation is made possible. So how much faith is required? In Matthew 17:20, Jesus tells us that the faith of a mustard seed is all that is needed.

It was Jesus, wanting Jairus to have faith in him when his daughter had died, who said “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” (Mark 5:36). Jesus then brought his daughter back to life.

So, all you need is love … well, faith!