Benjamin Roseberry Misc Javert

Grace overpowers Legalism. 

The following lyrics are from “Javert’s Suicide,” from the movie Les Miserables.

Who is this man?
What sort of devil is he
To have me caught in a trap
And choose to let me go free?
It was his hour at last
To put a seal on my fate
Wipe out the past
And wash me clean off the slate!
All it would take
Was a flick of his knife.
Vengeance was his
And he gave me back my life!

Damned if I'll live in the debt of a thief!
Damned if I'll yield at the end of the chase.
I am the Law and the Law is not mocked
I'll spit his pity right back in his face
There is nothing on earth that we share
It is either Valjean or Javert!

How can I now allow this man
To hold dominion over me?
This desperate man whom I have hunted
He gave me my life. He gave me freedom.
I should have perished by his hand
It was his right.
It was my right to die as well
Instead I live... but live in hell.

And my thoughts fly apart
Can this man be believed?
Shall his sins be forgiven?
Shall his crimes be reprieved?

And must I now begin to doubt,
Who never doubted all these years?
My heart is stone and still it trembles
The world I have known is lost in shadow.
Is he from heaven or from hell?
And does he know
That granting me my life today
This man has killed me even so?

I am reaching, but I fall
And the stars are black and cold
As I stare into the void
Of a world that cannot hold
I'll escape now from the world
From the world of Jean Valjean.
There is nowhere I can turn
There is no way to go on....

In reflecting on these lyrics through a Christian lens, I quickly see a comparison between Javert and the 1^st century Pharisees whom Jesus encountered.  In the scene previous to this song, Valjean has allowed Javert to live.  Valjean had him at knife point, completely vulnerable.  He would have been able to kill Javert and sleep well at night knowing that it would have been just (in a sense).  However, Valjean, because of the grace he had been shown earlier in his life, mimics that in this scene sparing Javert’s life.  A little bit later Valjean is dragging Marius’ injured body to a doctor when he encounters Javert again.  Javert has the opportunity to kill Valjean but does not do so.  In this song it is apparent that Javert feels that he is in a catch 22.  He is unable to kill a man who spared his life.  This is the beauty of grace.  It overpowers legalism.  Javert has been beaten in his legalism by the power of grace.  Javert sings, “And does he know that granting me my life today, this man has killed me even so.”  Javert is a man of the law.  He will only do what is just in the eyes of France.  But when Valjean gives him his life back, Javert is faced with a decision: Kill Valjean or let him go.  But either way would be breaking a law.  He is unable to make a decision and decides to end his life.