The Bishop's Candlesticks

In the 2012 film Les Misérables, Jean Valjean — hardened by nineteen years of brutal imprisonment — steals silver from the one man who showed him kindness: Bishop Myriel. When gendarmes drag Valjean back to the bishop's door, goods in hand, expecting condemnation, the bishop does something that stops everyone cold. He tells the officers there has been a misunderstanding. He gave Valjean the silver. And then he turns to the thief and presses the silver candlesticks into his trembling hands — the ones Valjean had left behind — and says quietly: "With this silver I have bought your soul. I've ransomed you from fear and hatred, and now I give you back to God."

That moment undoes Jean Valjean. Not years of hard labor, not chains, not the law — but the crushing weight of unearned grace. He spends the rest of his life becoming the man the bishop dared to believe he could be.

This is the gospel in miniature. God does not simply overlook what we have done. He reaches into the wreckage of our worst moments, pays the full price, and hands us back to ourselves with a new name. The cross is the ultimate candlestick moment — the Almighty pressing His grace into our hands and saying: you belong to Me now. Your past does not define you. My love does.

What will you do with the grace you have been given?