Sacrifice - The Heart of Real Love

I'm not afraid to admit it. The newest movie version of Les Miserables literally had me weeping. I couldn't help but be moved by all the amazing examples of love, grace, and sacrifice, especially by Eponine's character and the sacrifices she makes for the sake of red love.

If you're unfamiliar with the plot, consider this your spoiler alert!

Here's a quick summary of pertinent details: Our story is set in France during the Revolution, where a young lady named Eponine is in love with an idealistic university student named Marius. But for Marius, it's love at first sight when he spots a girl named Cossette, and he enlists Eponine to help him reconnect with her. (He even literally sings about red love the way that Taylor does.) Of course, Eponine is so in love with Marius that she is willing to do anything for him and agrees to help. Then once our young revolutionaries (including Marius and Eponine) decide to take their stand against the French army, Eponine sacrifices her life by jumping in front of Marius, taking the bullet that was meant for him.

For the life of me, I still can't totally understand why Eponine loves Marius or why he doesn't love her back...but I guess that's part of what makes her story so beautiful. She's in love with Marius - a fool, who takes her love for granted, though she loves him enough to die for him. And she knows that he'll never love her back, yet she willingly takes a bullet for him. She gives her own life to save his, even though he wouldn't do the same. I get all teary just thinking about it.

But why? Why is this sacrifice beautiful? Why do you and I blink back tears as Eponine dies to save the man she so deeply loves? I think it's because she points to Jesus and the sacrifice involved in His love story. God's whole definition of love is based around Jesus' sacrifice: "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10). So as we see Eponine give her life for a man who does not love her back, we see a beautiful picture of what Jesus has done. Though we were blind fools who took His love for granted, He loved us enough to die for us.

And the death of Jesus wasn't just any death - it was the most horrifying, shameful death in all of history. He was wrongfully condemned as a criminal, tortured beyond comprehension so that at the end of it, he didn't even look like a man anymore, and He was nailed to a cross and hung there completely naked, exposed and vulnerable, while those who stood watching mocked Him, spit on Him, and called out false accusations against Him. But that's not even the worse part. As He hung there, making payment for the sins of the world, He bore the crushing weight of His Father's wrath and righteous anger upon His soul. And He willingly faced this terror for His enemies, like you and me - all so that our sins would no longer condemn us and separate us from a Holy God. He died that we might live! (Mark 15, Isaiah 53, Hebrews 12:1-2).

What's even more amazing is that Jesus didn't stay dead! God the Father accepted Jesus' sacrifice for sin, and as proof of that, Jesus resurrected from the dead! The power of sin and death could not hold Him, since they were no match for the power of His indestructible life. And because Christ was raised from the dead, we can also live a new life now and for eternity! (Mark 16, Hebrews 7:15-19, Romans 6:3-11)

Part of that new life is to become more and more like Jesus. As we look at Him and someone like Eponine who so beautifully demonstrates sacrificial love, it should transform us and give us an ever-increasing desire for that kind of love to shine out of our lives.

In thinking about this concept and it's intersection with a longing for red love, there seem to be plenty of opportunities to cultivate a heart of sacrifice. So whenever I realize that I'm interested in someone, of course, I do what a bunch of us do...I pray that we would either get married or that God would take the feelings away. But as you can see, I'm not married, and as you might be able to glean from my writing, I have more intense feelings than I know what to do with. So instead of giving into fear and frustration, for the past few years I've tried to put these feelings to good use to help me become more like Jesus. 

What do I mean? Well, let's be honest here...as a woman, wisdom typically hinders me from declaring my feelings, but they refuse to go away, so they're just all bottled up inside me, threatening to kill me at any second...and surely something must be done with them! I've tried to deny the feelings out of self-protection, but that response doesn't really leave me more like Jesus. So I pray some very challenging prayers. If I'm interested in a man, I pray for him, and I pray that he would marry someone much more godly than I am. And I pray that God would give him the desires of his heart, even if that does not include me. And I pray for anything else good that I can think of for him, even if that good might lead to my pain.  

I know it might sound kind of strange, but this is a very helpful and purposeful way for me to:

1. Learn to trust Jesus 
It's pretty easy for me to freak out when I think about the possibility of not getting the things I long for most. But in the midst of my freak outs, I lose sight of my gracious Heavenly Father who loves me, wants to care for and provide for me, but who doesn't want me to be enslaved by my desires. So I talk to Him about the things that seem scariest to me and recognize that I'm not the one who's in control, but He is. 

2. Choose to be like Jesus 
It is so helpful for me to choose to love another person more than I love myself. Because naturally I'm a very selfish person, so I just want what I want, when I want it. But I have been captivated by the sacrificial love of Christ. It's amazing. I just can't get enough of it. And I want to be like Him in it. So when I think of all that He has done - that He loved me, at great cost to Himself, though there was nothing particularly lovable about me, and though I expressed no desire to love Him in return - I cannot help but desire to be like Him in His love. Though the sacrifice involved in this type of love goes against everything in my flesh, my new heart embraces the freedom found in choosing to love this way, because it's motivated by the same freedom Jesus had to give up His life for us.  

3. Get to know Jesus in a deeper way
For me to love another person unselfishly (though imperfectly) even in the tiniest degree is the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. As I have prayed these challenging prayers by faith, and as the Lord has actually changed my heart to desire the things I'm praying for, I feel like I have grown closer to Christ and have understood His love in ways I never have before. And my guess is that's why it's no mistake that the epic line toward the end of Les Mis, "To love another person is to see the face of God," is set to the music of Eponine's song, On My Own.  When we choose to love others sacrificially, as Eponine did and as Jesus did, we see and experience Christ's love more clearly. We get to experience bits and pieces of what He went through to win us back. It was painful for Him, just like it is for us. But the joy of getting us back kept Him going, and the joy of knowing Him can keep us going. 

Why Jesus ever thought it was worth it to give up His life to get us, I still don't know. 

But I do know that Jesus' sacrificial love is so beautiful! 

Loving Him is Red!

Check out this Les Mis movie trailer set to Eponine's amazing song: On My Own

Have you been captivated by the sacrificial love of Jesus? If so, how are you seeking to train your heart to love others, even when it comes at a great cost to yourself? 

How will you celebrate the sacrificial love of Jesus this weekend as we look back on Jesus' death and resurrection?