From Outcast to Cherished: The Spiritual Transformation of Quasimodo

I am sure that many of you are familiar with Victor Hugo’s character Quasimodo. Even if you did not read the lengthy novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, you have probably seen a movie or a musical. If not that – what about the Disney cartoon? You know, the disfigured guy who lived in the attic of the Paris cathedral. His love for Esmeralda. His fight for her. But do you know how he got his unique name?

He was found on the steps of the cathedral on Quasimodo Sunday – the eighth day of Easter or the Second Sunday of Easter. Our calendar still calls it Quasimodo Sunday for those LCMS congregations who hold to a one-year cycle of Gospel readings. The reason for this title originates from the Latin text or antiphon of the Introit, which is based on 1 Peter 2:2: “like newborn babies…” This likeness is the reason Quasimodo got his name. It is a cruel joke played by Claude Frollo who adopted him – the baby is not a man, but just like a man. Then life gets even more rough for Quasimodo. Learning to play bells for the cathedral, he turns deaf. No word of compassion, love, or at least acceptance penetrates his ear drums. He learns to fellowship with his adopted father, and him only… until… Esmeralda comes to him at the most miserable hour, giving him a drink of refreshing water.

The reason for this title originates from the Latin text or antiphon of the Introit, which is based on 1 Peter 2:2: “like newborn babies…”

In a similar way, the entire world neglecting Christ – His death and resurrection – lost the image or likeness of God in us (Genesis 1:26). The world resembles Quasimodo, for the sin does nothing but deform – mental, physical, and most importantly spiritual. It is good to enjoy the fruit of one’s labor, but when this joy grows disproportional, it turns into a tumor of pride. When a person is not thankful to God for the gift of life, he immanently becomes self-centered and self-serving, bending inward like a hunchback. Sin looks ugly, sin looks hideous (one of the descriptions of Quasimodo in the novel).

That’s why only the fresh Baptismal water can fix our hearts and souls and direct our attention to the only source that is able to fill the voids and provide for the needs. We could not become gods or be like God. Therefore, Jesus came in the likeness of man (Philippians 2:7-8). He picked up our fate or our doom and transformed it by His glorious resurrection. Now we can call the Father in His name – for Jesus was highly exalted (Philippians 2:9-11).

And now, in the likeness of newborn babies we are invited to spiritual milk that we might grow into salvation (1 Peter 2:2). Babies love to be fed; that’s how they grow. For us to grow is to joyfully eat what God offers us in His Word and Sacrament of the Altar. After all, being God’s Quasimodo is being heard, loved, and cherished by Him.