The Four Different Christians of Les Miserables

One of my favorite musicals Les Miserables. It's an emotional, historical drama based on the novel by Victor Hugo about a man named Jean Valjean who was arrested and imprisoned for 20 years for stealing bread for his impoverished family. The story follows Valjean on his journey from bitterness to redemption after his release from prison.  He breaks parole and therefore must spend his time trying to escape the ruthless Inspector Javert who imprisoned him in the first place.

The story twists and turns as Valjean builds a new life for himself with the help of God.
His story becomes intertwined with many including an employee of his and her daughter, revolutionaries seeking peace in France and all manner of dregs and heros.

I am so intrigued by this story with its wisdom and interesting plot-line.  I was particularly interested in the different examples of Christians I saw within the story.   I have never read the book, but I suspect the writer wanted to display these different aspects of what people think Christianity is.

The main character, Jean Valjean, is a man who was treated unjustly in the name of justice.
He was bitter and saw himself as a man whom the world was against.  When he got out of prison, things were hard  and could not find work as he had been labeled a dangerous man.  He was impoverished and resulted to dishonesty.  He had despaired of God and given up hope that God even cared about Him.

He is taken in one night by a priest who gives him food and a place to sleep.  The priest covers him in kindness and mercy even when he attempts to steal the church silver.   When Valjean is caught making off with it, the priest makes a gift out of the stolen goods and charges Valjean to use it to become an honest man.

Valjean does just that.  He becomes educated, changes his name to Monseur Lemehr and builds a business of his own providing employment to hundreds.  Soon he becomes a prominent and respected man in the city.  All the while he comes closer to God living in kindness, generosity and patience with his fellow man.

Inspector Javert is the one constantly on watch for and in search of the Jean Valjean.  Javert's lives by his belief that God hates sin and any sin must be punished ever after, no matter how great or small the sin was.  The fact that Valjean broke his parole especially ate him up.  To me, he is the kind of man who knows nothing of mercy but only believes that God is there to condemn.  

You even see him treat himself harshly when he thinks he made a mistake.  Perhaps his attitude towards law-breakers stems from the fact that he does not accept mercy for his own shortcomings.

There were couple other characters who called themselves Christians as well.  They were immoral thieves, abusive to children and just scum.  

They used the name Christian to try to sound good in order to get things they wanted from people. 

So, I thought it was very interesting to see portrayed the different examples of people who take the name Christian.  Obviously, I think the kindly priest was the true Christian.  He was merciful, kind, and changed Valjean's life by exhorting Him to do good.