Les Miserables, is a film based on a musical by
the same name, based on a French novel written 150 years ago by Victor Hugo. It
was an epic story before the word “epic” became popular. In the story, the main
character, Jean Valjean has served 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of
bread. This was a time in France of
great poverty and great misery. He
breaks his parole, and spends the rest of his life evading a police inspector
named Javert. Everything is about the
law with Javert. There is much more to
the story, but for those of you who still want to see the film, I won’t share
any more details, except for this one.
Jean Valjean, the man in the film who over and
over makes the choice for compassion, but who has to avoid the police because
of the one crime of stealing bread, has an opportunity to kill the police
officer. There is great poverty and unrest in France at the time. They are on
the verge of a second Revolution. At one point the rebels have captured the
police inspector and are holding him hostage. They do not know of Jean
Valjean’s long time battle with Javert. His personal troubles would be over if
he could just kill the police inspector and the revolutionaries give him a
chance to do just that. But when the men stand face to face, the goodness in
Jean Valjean’s heart prevails. He cannot kill an unarmed man – even his mortal
enemy – and he sends Javert on his way, unharmed.
Javert, for his part, is flabbergasted. Because he
has given his life to the rule of law, he cannot comprehend that Jean Valjean
grants him mercy. You get it, don’t you?
Jean Valjean has experienced love and mercy in his
life, so he is able to show love mercy to another person. It’s as simple as
that. Love is contagious. You know that,
don’t you? God’s love is contagious.
Long, long ago, in another place, a man named John
was telling people about the way of God’s love and mercy. He was urging them to
turn away from their lives of sin and turn to God’s love. He told them to have
generous hearts and to take care of the poor. He told them to stop cheating one
another. He gave words of strength to the people and he spoke words that spoke
to their hearts. You know the words, don’t
you?
The people were waiting for The Messiah – who we
now know was Jesus. And they began to ask themselves – is this man, John, The
Messiah? Could he be the one we have been waiting for?
He must have heard them because he told them, (Luke
3:15-22 from the Message paraphrase for those following along online) “No, I am
just a stagehand in this drama. I am pointing the way. I am baptizing you in
the river here but the one who comes will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and
will ignite a fire in you and change you from the inside out!” He knew that
Jesus would change the world through them.
I love that part where John says “I am a stagehand
in this drama, pointing the way to Jesus.”
Jesus is the one. My sister
studied theater in college. She did the behind the scenes work: the costumes,
the sets, the stage managing. Those folks don’t get noticed, but they hold the
project together. I mean, think about it, what would a Broadway show be without
all the people behind the scenes making sure the lead actors look and sound
great? Without the fabulously designed scenery and lighting, and the great
music, the shows would not be nearly as moving and effective and magical.
Well, we are Jesus’ stagehands in the world today.
Jesus is no longer physically present. But the MESSAGE of Jesus is still here
and alive. We are the ones who have to point to the message of Jesus and make
it some alive for people. And I wonder. . . I just wonder, if anyone might look
at us, AND MISTAKE US for Jesus, the they mistook John for Jesus.
Could our actions be so compassionate, so
generous, so full of mercy, so out of the box outrageous in our love, that
people might say – you are acting JUST LIKE JESUS!!!!
What might that look like in Toledo
and Maumee and Waterville in 2013 for us to be mistaken for Jesus? Our leaders had a retreat this weekend and
came up with some ideas about how we might go out into our community and engage
people and maybe, just maybe give them a glimpse of the love and mercy of
Jesus.
Community Festivals are really popular in the
summer. Why do you suppose that is? People are looking for something fun to do.
They want to get out of the house, have some good food, and do something
different. People are also looking for a sense of community that they can’t get
sitting at home in front on the TV watching the home shopping network and
reality TV. We are looking for
connections.
One of those festivals is a tiny little one that
happens on the 4th of July morning over at Harvard circle. It’s only a few hours on the morning of the 4th
of July. It is like stepping back in time. They block
off the circle and have a little bike parade. There is the band that plays old
music from about the 1940’s. It’s a hoot! They have kids games. We went there about 3 or 4 years ago when we
were just getting started and I had my office at Park Church. We set up corn
hole and we gave away candy or something. Jodi Haney, Kiki’s mom, met us there.
Jodi wanted a church. She was not going to church anywhere at the time. When we
opened a few months later at Monroe and Central she did not come, even though
she read about us in the paper. But she
didn’t come. She heard about us a couple
of more times. And she didn’t come Finally when we moved into the Maumee
Theater, near where she lives, and she saw another article about us, and
finally she came, and now Jodi and
Kiki are two of our most active members. They were looking for a spiritual
home. But we had to get out there in the community. We had to widen our reach,
so they could find us, and we could find them.
That’s what it looks like to be Jesus – we go out
into the world, and interact with people –we have some fun, and we are
available to people who are searching for a spiritual home. People are longing
for community, but they don’t know how to find it. And for many people, church
is the last place they will look for community. Some of you have told me that. But yet, here you are. You’ve found it.
But I wonder, when they see a group of us, having
fun, and treating one another with respect and compassion, might just mistake
us for Jesus? Could they possibly even mistake us for Jesus?
Another place we want to go is the “Take Back the
Night Event.” This is an event for anyone, but it is especially for women who
have been affected by violence, and people who care about them. There is always
a program and then woman march around a
neighborhood chanting, carrying signs
and saying that we are “taking back the night” because we want to feel safe
walking outside in our city.
What better place for us to go, as The Village church,
to be the face of Jesus, than an event called “Take Back the night”? What
better place to go and offer love and compassion? To support fellow women who have been through
violence, or as people who care about others.
I’m going to go, and I hope you will to.
Maybe, people will mistake us for Jesus.
One more project I want to mention is this. We’re
going to ask you, (those of you who have these skills) to help repair a house
for a family who needs our help. You’ll hear more about that in coming weeks. I
am sure we all have projects around our own homes that need to be done. We live in an over hundred year old house and
we’re not handy (Kurt nods very vigorously). But as followers of Jesus, this is
what sets us apart. Sometimes we put our own needs aside, in order to help
others who really need a hand up. Our church is going to help a family that
really needs our help because the house where they are living is not warm. They
need drywall and then they need painting and electrical and flooring. We are
going to get some other folks to help with some of this. But we have folks who
can do this. And if you’re like me and you are not handy then you can cook for
the workers or donate money. We are going to start this at the end of
February.
You see when we do all these things we are being
the stage hands in the drama that of being a loving community of Jesus’
followers. We are pointing people to Jesus. And maybe, just maybe, they might
mistake us for Jesus, like they mistook John the Baptist for Jesus. Wouldn’t
that be something?
You see there is really only one thing we need to
do in order to be mistaken for Jesus. We need to love one another. We need to
be generous and radical in our love. We need to love people who don’t deserve
our love, because there are times we don’t deserve that love either. In the story of Les Mis, somehow, Jean
Valjean, is able to be generous with the police office Jalvert. He is able to show mercy and compassion on a
sad man who knows no love in his life.
The most powerful line in the show, to me is this
one, at the end when Jean Valjean comes to the end of his life and he says to
his daughter: “To love another person is to see the face of God.”
It’s true. I believe this is how we can be
mistaken for Jesus. When we love, we are God for one another. So, I pray that
in our life together this year, we can do this: let us love one another and
others out there in such a way that someone might just mistake us for
Jesus.
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