BUYING BACK HIS SOUL

Turn with me to Romans 5:6-8

“While we were frail and undone, and without any wherewithal to save ourselves, Christ died for us. Of course, it is unusual for a man to sacrifice his life for another, though for a good man someone might lay down his life. But God validated His love for us, that in spite of the fact that we were awful sinners, Christ died for us.”

There is a scene in both the book and the movie, “Les Miserables” (by Victor Hugo and set in early 1800’s France) in which an escaped convict knocks on a priest’s door, and explains that he is hungry and needs a place to lay his head for the night. Father Myriel invites Jean Val Jean into his humble abode; much to the consternation of the kindly priest’s housekeeper. As the unlikely trio sits down for supper, we notice the ex-inmate’s eyes widen, as a set of ornate silverware is laid out before him, and a contrastingly small, but evil smile appears on his lips.

The supper over, Bishop Myriel, and Jean Val Jean sit before the fire awhile; before eventually retiring for the evening. As the stars navigate their evening circuit across the sky, and the fire flies flit here and there throughout the nearby pastures, the criminal opens his eyes, and looks around his borrowed room. Jean silently dresses, and steals into the kitchen. Emptying his own knapsack of a few worthless odds and ends, he helps himself to the sterling silver plates and utensils.

It is a full moon, and as Jean Val Jean walks across the open threshold of Father Myriel’s room, the old priest opens his eyes and immediately understands the import of the scene that is playing itself out in his presence. But after an almost imperceptible shake of his head, and a troubled frown, the parson closes his eyes, and is soon overtaken by slumber.

The morning dawns bright and fair, and there is a shriek, as the housekeeper opens the silver cabinet for the breakfast meal, and becomes all too aware of what has taken place in the night.

“Bishop, dear Bishop, that man you allowed into your home has robbed you of your silver! Quickly Sir. We must contact the magistrate.”

The kindly priest walks into the kitchen, and merely says,

“Well now, good woman. He must have needed the stuff more than us.”

(and)

“After all, the silver is not ours, but God’s.  It is best used for the poor. And was our dear brother not poor in both goods, and spirit? It is well. It is well.”

Shortly afterwards, there is a loud banging on the door, and the harried housekeeper hastens to open it. Before her stands a middle-aged man adorned in the clothing of the city magistrate. He holds a dirty knapsack in his hands. Behind him stands, well, you guessed it, Jean Val Jean; iron shackles adorning his hands and feet. A slightly built police sergeant holds him by the arm.

“Excuse me, Bishop Myriel. A moment of your time, please. This wicked fellow here, well, we caught him with a sack full of silver, and when we asked him where he got it, he claimed, well, he claimed…”

The bishop smiled, and cut him off.

“Yes, my brother, Jean told you a good priest gave him the silver. Please release him. You were only doing your duty, sir, but he did nothing wrong.”

The magistrate was incredulous. “You mean he was telling us the truth?” And he couldn’t quit shaking his head in disbelief.

There was nothing else to do, but release the poor shackled soul. And the magistrate gave his assistant instructions to do so.

As the chains fells off, Jean Val Jean’s hands and feet, the compassionate minister whispered to his housekeeper. She hurried off into the house, and quickly returned with something in her hands.

The priest accepted two similar items from her, and thrust them into the hands of the escaped convict.

“And my dear sir, you forgot these silver candlesticks. Didn’t I remind you to pack them before you left this morning?”

The magistrate was nothing short of incredulous, and continued to shake his head. He finally spoke.

“Well, Bishop Myriel. We will take our leave now. Thank you, Sir. Thank  you for clearing this up for us.”

And then they were left alone. Without a word, the empathetic priest motioned Jean Val Jean to step into his humble living room.

As they entered the small living area, neither man sat down. The bishop starred unblinking into Jean Val Jean’s eyes, ‘til the former inmate was ashamed; and he dropped his eyes to the floor.

The parson knew the convict’s story. The big brute had unraveled the tale for him the previous evening. His sister, and her little son, and he were without work, and desperately hungry. And in a moment of desperation, Jean Val Jean had gone looking for,… for bread. Oh, he’d found it, he’d found it behind a bakery display window. The hungry man had picked up a rock and smashed what lay between him, and his prize. A single loaf of bread. And as a result of that momentary decision, he’d spent 19 years in prison.

The bishop finally spoke,

“Jean Val Jean. You have been tried, and convicted for a crime of passion. A passion that is common to all of us. Your stomach ached for food, and your sister and nephew suffered from the same temptation. You have suffered a great wrong perpetrated by a callous judge who stole a quarter of your life from you, and understandably your soul is dark with vengeance.”

It was at then that the kindly bishop placed one hand under Jean’s chin, and lifted his head. Now, each man noticed the tears coursing down the other’s cheeks. The hapless convict continued to hold the silver candlesticks in those over-sized hands; if for no other reason than to conceal the tremors which threatened to overwhelm him.

“Jean Val Jean. You are no longer the man who knocked on my door yesterday. A sinner and a stranger stepped across my threshold. Now, standing before me is my brother in Christ. You are changed, you are purified. With these candlesticks I buy back your soul. And as often as you look at them, you must remember this day. You must spend the rest of your life doing good, as Christ our Lord also did good.”

And the good priest’s words seemed at the same time a weight, and a grace to the rough-hewn Val Jean. And the years of pain and bitterness escaped him in a torrent of tears. Suddenly, the haggard man dropped to his knees, and a wail escaped his lips; which might have easily been heard outside the house.

Bishop Myriel stooped down, and took the repentant man by his burly arms, lifted him to his feet, and lovingly embraced him.

“Jean Val Jean, my brother. Go now. Go in peace.”

And with this, the repentant stranger stepped out of that old cottage door; a changed man.

“Hmmm. Let’s see. Ah, Pastor Sherri, I need a volunteer. You will do nicely. (Play on words).”

As a counselor, I recently told this story to several of my clients, and went on to recreate this ancient scene from this novel from a century and a half ago.  Pulling a coin (or some other relevant token such as this Civil War bullet) from my pocket I will say,

“Sherri, you have been struggling with guilt (or bitterness or unforgiveness) which you haven’t been able to overcome…’til now. That unresolved emotion is not yours to keep.” And slipping the item into my client’s outstretched hand, I continue.

“My friend, with this token I am purchasing anything and everything which has prevented you from being the person whom God dreamed you could be, you would be; before He made the worlds.

“I have bought back the guilt, memories, unforgiveness or trauma which have plagued you for too long, and which has prevented you from experiencing a sense of peace and freedom. Those things that never were good for you anyway have been put to death.”

To suddenly discover the figurative shackles have fallen away from your hands and feet, to realize the grace of forgiveness, to forgive yourself, to embrace new mindsets, to practice new behaviors, to dispel the guilt, to vanquish the animosity towards a family member or former friend; to walk in newness of life. To learn to love life again.

And interestingly enough, I can tell you that more often, than not, the clients with whom I have shared this story, and little ceremony have experienced a great deal of peace and freedom as a result. They have gone on to forgive themselves and others. They have overcome bitterness. They have relinquished trauma and difficult memories.

They have impacted lives. They have won souls. They have made me proud. It is not a stretch to say that they are almost unrecognizable when compared to the person I knew only a short time ago.

 I think Victor Hugo, the author of that old novel, would be both amazed, and gratified that I have been able to use the account in his ancient volume in this manner.

Let me urge you to learn to love life again, to embrace newness of life, to fulfill your mission, to live a life without the limitations which trauma, bitterness, guilt, or memories have imposed on you.

Let me challenge you to embrace peace and freedom, and to, as it were, live, and love, and move and breathe again, and find yourself in a better place.

Just as I have sometimes exchanged a token for the troublesome memories, mindsets, guilt and unforgiveness of my clients, and just as the kindly priest exchanged the silver candlesticks for Jean Val Jean’s soul, our High Priest poured out His life blood in exchange for our sins.

Notice the passage in Isaiah 53:5

“He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. And by His stripes we are healed.”

“By His stripes we are healed.”

The healing which Christ purchased when He submitted Himself to that awful whip, and when He received those terrible wounds on His back, was much more than physical, but was also emotional and spiritual in nature.

Our High Priest has purchased your woundedness; that trauma from your childhood, the emotional scars which you received as the result of a divorce, those memories of ancient sins which still linger in your heart and mind, and for which you haven’t forgiven yourself, or your inability to forgive someone who betrayed you.

My friends, your wounds are sad to behold, but you ARE NOT your wounds. They no longer need to characterize you.

In closing, I want to invite everyone here to remember, for a moment, something which still rears its ugly head from time to time, and haunts you like a ghost. Reflect on something for which our natural enemy accuses you; again, and again, or think of someone from your past who still shows up in your dreams, or consider some unresolved guilt for which you need to forgive yourself or someone else.

Dear friends you cannot begin to fulfill the plans which God dreamed for you before He made the worlds, to fulfill your mission on this earth, unless you discover a way to divest yourself of the emotional stuff which isn’t good for you. I challenge you to surrender that useless stuff to the great High Priest of our Faith. Only He is strong enough to carry it for you. Let me remind you. He carried it to the cross for you.

And like my clients to whom I have alluded, and like Jean Val Jean when he stretched out his hands, and received those silver candlesticks, let me ask every one of you to stretch out your open hands in front of you now, and exchange those difficult memories, emotions, unforgiveness or unresolved guilt for the healing for which Christ died; and which He purchased when he received the stripes on His back, and offered Himself up on the cross.

(Please take your time. Be sure you have surrendered anything and everything to our Lord which has limited you from fulfilling your calling, and which has kept you stuck in those old mindsets, words and behavior which prevents you from spiritual freedom).

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending