Sermon for February 10th, 2013

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

1Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Luke 6:20-26

20 Then he looked up at his disciples and said:‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 ‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 24 ‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 ‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. ‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 ‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

Ephesians 2:1-10

1You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Les Miserables

There is no story in all of modern literary fiction that expresses the central message of the Gospel as powerfully and as directly as Les Miserables. And I say that not just as a pastor, but as an English major and former English teacher. All of the films we've been examining during this film series reflect the gospel and biblical themes to some extent. In the movie "Brave" it might not have been intentional. In the movie "Life of Pi" it might not have been very specific. In "Lincoln," the gospel message was subtle and complex. In Tolkien it was quite intentional, but still hidden and obscure. In Les Miserables, however, one would almost have to be blind and deaf NOT to hear the gospel message proclaimed boldly in almost every minute, every song, and every line. This makes it a fitting "Grand Finale" to our sermon series on Script and Scripture. It's also fitting because Valentine's day is later this week, and Les Miserables contains a beautiful love story...but (if you saw the film) you're probably thinking of a different love story than the one I'm thinking about. More on that later...

My custom for these past few sermons has been to give a three minute plot summary of the film before delving into its themes and scriptural connections. I can't do that today. Victor Hugo's novel, upon which the film is based, is five volumes long. The stage musical and the film version are close to three hours, and contain enough plot twists to make both Charles Dickens and JJ Abrams proud. In any case, to separate the plot from the scriptural/biblical themes in this case would be almost impossible, so let's just jump right into the water and begin.

Look Down

Since we've jumped into the water, that is precisely where the film begins. Under water. We emerge from the water to find a chain gang of galley slaves pulling a large ship into dock in the middle of the storm. There is water everywhere. Think baptism. But this isn't the cute or pretty sort of baptism--one of the prisoners sings "Look down, look down, sweet Jesus hear my prayer" and another immediately responds, "Look down, look down, sweet Jesus doesn't care. This sets up one of the great questions of the film: Where is God's love to be found among the miserable ones, the wretched of the earth, the poor and downtrodden? The song continues "Look down, look down, you're standing in your grave, look down, look down, you'll always be a slave."

And just at this disheartening point, we see the first glimmer of hope--a prisoner who is about to be set free. He has served his time, but right before he is released, a police officer gives him one last command: to retrieve the broken flag of the ship the slaves have just hauled in. It is a flag attached to a giant beam of timber, and the prisoner, with great difficulty lifts it onto his shoulders, carrying the beam as Christ might have carried the cross up to Calvary. When the prisoner reaches the top of his climb, the rain stops and the sun comes out. {film clip #1}

These are the two main characters of the film: the prisoner, Jean Valjean #24601, and Inspector Javert.

Look Down

I Dreamed a Dream

Who Am I?

Castle In the Clouds

Stars

Bring Him Home

Do You Hear the People Sing (Epilogue)