Ransomed
Les Miserables is a great story and the introduction is a fabulous picture of the Gospel. Jean Val Jean is a criminal. He spent 19 years in jail for stealing food. He finds himself out of prison, alone, with no place to sleep except a park bench. By chance (now really, are there any "chances" in the Kingdom?), a lady approaches him and says to him, "You haven't knocked on that door...knock there".

Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

So Jean knocks on the door and the Bishop opens it. Jean says, "I am a criminal" and the Bishop says, "I know who you are, you are welcome in my home."

The Bishop takes Jean in, feeds him and gives him a bed for the night to which Jean says "A meal and a bed to sleep in - in the morning, I will be new man." Yet Jean is pulled by his old ways and he wakes up in the middle of the night and steals the Bishop's silverwear. When the Bishop stumbles across him in the darkness, Jean knocks him out and flees.

God offers and at times we knock Him to the floor, reject his offer of unconditional love and flee.

Jean is captured the next day and returned to the Bishop. The Bishop backs Jean's story and tells the police to let him go that he gave Jean the silver and wondered why he didn't also take the candlesticks he had offered him.

God's love outpours more than we can imagine...

Jean Val Jean is freed. The Bishop stares at him and says, "Don't forget, don't ever forget, you've promised to become a new man." (Born again?) Jean is speechless..."why are you doing this".

And then the key line, "Jean Val Jean my brother, you no longer belong to evil. With this silver, I bought your soul. I've ransomed you from fear and hatred. Now I give you back to God."

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28

It is a remarkable piece of art that captures so clearly the Gospel. Jean did not deserve the Bishop's grace. He spit on the Bishop and stole from him. Yet, he was forgiven. He was given the Bishop's most valuable possession so he could begin his life as a "new man" - free of the bondage he was facing. Even after rejecting him, knocking him down and taking his most valued possession - even after all that, the Bishop "ransomed" his life and "bought" him out of his slavery to sin.

Soar!