MERCY PAID FORWARD

Matthew 5:7(ESV)
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Upon his release from nineteen years in prison, Victor Hugo’s Jean Valjean, the protagonist of his fictional book Les Misérables, is rejected by those he encounters, becoming embittered. When he asks for mercy, none is given. Once, after working all day and in an inversion to the parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20, he is paid half of what the other workers receive simply because he is a paroled convict.

After stealing candlesticks from a church that gave him shelter and food, he is caught red-handed but when taken back to the church by the police, the bishop tells the officers that the silver was a gift and when they are alone, tells Valjean that he has bought his soul for God.

After some personal introspective struggle within himself, the mercy shown by the bishop was actively received which created a radical conversion of the heart, a transformation within Valjean which defines the remainder of his life. The mercy received was paid forward several times throughout his life.

Fantine, a young woman dying of tuberculosis pleaded with Javert, the police detective, for mercy during her arrest, explaining she had a young child being cared for by others, but Javert refused to show compassion. Valjean expresses to Javert that Fantine needs a doctor rather than a jail. Her dilemma was much like every human that hasn’t been healed by the Divine Physician.

For Christ-followers, the condemnation we deserve is forgiven by his death on the cross, i.e., mercy actively accepted.

Valjean takes on Fantine’s child, Cosette, once more applying mercy. Many years later when Cosette’s one and only love Marius is injured at the barricade (in one of many revolutions in the late 1700s and early 1800s), Valjean mercifully risks his life by saving Marius’s.

But not all mercy is actively accepted. Much like those who refuse to accept Christ’s salvation from sin, Javert would not accept the mercy offered by Valjean, choosing to die without it.

As Mosaic Christ-followers, we must always look for opportunities to pay forward the mercy provided to us by our Savior.