I don’t
watch too many movies. I’m just too antsy to sit that long. And my kids have
always teased me that when I do, the movie always ends up as an illustration in
my next sermon. That happened a few years ago when I watched a Danish film called
Babette’s Feast. It was one of the
most touching portraits of God’s grace that I’ve ever seen. I want to give you
a summary. And even though you will know how it ends, you should still see it—
It’s a story about a small group of Christians who lived in a small, bleak
village on an island off the coast of Denmark in the late 1800’s. They had been
founded by a very strict, Puritanical pastor who had since died, but they kept
his memory alive in their traditions.
Their idea of godliness was to live simple, meager lives
with limited pleasure. One day, a French woman named Babette showed up at the
door of the pastor’s two spinster daughters. She had lost all of her family in
the Napoleonic wars in Europe and she wanted
to know if she could work for these ladies as their maid and cook. They said
they were sorry but they had no money with which to pay a servant. Babette said
she would gladly work for them in return for room and board. So Babette stayed
with these ladies for 14 years, served them faithfully, and cooked the few
plain dishes that they would eat, including smoked cod and beer soup.
During this time, the little group continued to shrink as members died, and it
became more and more ingrown and legalistic. Babette watched them bicker and
backstab--but they still kept their traditions. One day she got a message from France. A
relative of hers had bought her a lottery ticket and she had won 10,000
francs--she was rich! The two sisters she had lived with were very happy for
her, but they were sad because they assumed she would be going back to France.
Babette said that she had never asked the sisters for
anything, but now she had a request. The 100th anniversary of their pastor’s birthday was coming up, and
would they allow her to make a French feast for their celebration dinner? The
sisters asked the group, and they agreed.
Babette sent a list to Paris of all the supplies she would need, and a few
weeks later, a boat arrived with crates of dishes, glasses, linens, and strange
exotic foods, fruits, vegetables, wines, champagne, and even live quail!.
When the sisters saw what she was doing, they were horrified! They called the
group together and said that it looked like a banquet for Satan himself was in
the making. They agreed that the loving thing to do was to allow Babette to
prepare the feast, but they would not say a word about any of the food or
drink. They would eat it, but they would make sure not to enjoy it.
The evening finally came, and a special guest arrived, a decorated general who
years earlier had sought the hand of one of the two sisters--but was turned
down. They all sat down—all 20 of them—to a table set with the finest china,
crystal, and linens, and Babette began to bring out course after course after
course of the most exquisite food you could imagine. The people ate it without
any expression or emotion, while the general was exclaiming as each dish was
brought out. What was wrong with these people?
Finally, they began to sample the champagne—they thought it
was lemonade—and they began to loosen up and enjoy the meal. The general finally
stood up and said, “My friends, I don’t think you appreciate what has been set
before us! I have only eaten one other meal like this in all my life, and it
was at the Grand Hotel in Paris.
Surely the meal that we have just eaten must have been prepared by the same
Master Chef of the Grand Hotel! What a gift
you have been given!”
And of course, it had
been prepared by the former Master Chef of the Grand Hotel in Paris—Babette.
Her identity didn’t seem to sink in, but that one meal transformed the group.
It was the first time they had allowed themselves to experience any joy in
years. They began to reconcile with each other, they went out into the street
and began to sing their old hymns at the top of the voices.
The next day, the two sisters went to tell Babette how very much they had
enjoyed the feast, and they wanted her to know how sad they were that she would
be returning to Paris. She said, “Oh, but I’m not returning to Paris.” They said, “But
why not?” She said, “I have no money!” They said, “But how could that be, you
won 10,000 francs!” She said, “A meal for twenty guests at the Grand Hotel in
Paris, like the one I prepared for you, would cost 10,000 francs!” She had spent it all on her friends.
God has given us His all that we
might share in His Feast. So enjoy!
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish
but have eternal life.”
