Once, while in New York City, I had the opportunity to see the movie "Babette''s Feast," which I liked so much that I bought the video version of it. As I viewed the film, I knew someday it would help form the foundation of a Holy Communion Meditation. As I viewed the film, my mind immediately made connections to the well-known passage of scripture written by Dr. Luke that we just read in our worship service and the other passage from John 12:1-8.
However, before I share with you those connections, let me simply tell the story of Babette''s Feast in my own words and as Dr. Craddock taught once in a seminar. You make and develop the connections that are important to you in this stage of your sacred journey.
The Academy Award winning movie, "Babette''s Feast," is based on a book by Isak Dinesen, who many of you know and remember as the woman who wrote the book Out of Africa, which also inspired an award winning movie.
The author very creatively weaves the story of two daughters, Phillipa and Martina, of a well-known Lutheran pastor in a village in the north of Denmark in the late 1870''s. The father''s very rigid and strict religious discipline has shaped the community''s approach to life and faith expression. While very "simple," it is also austere in that he lacks joy and celebration. The father is very possessive and close to his daughters and prevents them from marrying. The father eventually dies leaving the two daughters to carry out the rigid discipline of this faith community. The daughters carry on with great attention and detail to the religious discipline of their father. However, the religious community is growing older and many of its devoted members are dying out. Unfortunately, the community begins to fight a great deal amongst themselves. This adds to their lack of joy and celebration.
The sisters reluctantly take in a female political refugee from Paris, France who shows up on a stormy, rainy night in the year 1870. The woman named, "Babette," is grateful and thankful for the community that has sheltered her, but she is curious at the lack of joy and celebration. In exchange for a place to stay and food to eat, Babette agrees to take care of the aging sisters. Babette lives and shares in the life of the community for many years.
Then one day, Babette learns that a friend who has purchased a lottery ticket every year in her name since she left France has won a fortune. She wants to share a great feast with the sisters and the community. The sisters are saddened about Babette''s good fortune because they feel that Babette will fly the coop. However, Babette goes about throwing a feast like they have never seen before.
The sisters and the community do not know what to do. Such a feast is sinful for them. They call a family conference like Bill Cosby used to do on his show. The sisters and community have a huge discussion. (Much like an Administrative Board Meeting when we are discussing money matters.) They decide they will go to the feast, but they will have no fun. They will be first-class "party-poopers."
Unbeknown to anyone is the revelation that Babette has been a renowned chef in a fine French eatery in Paris. Babette prepares for the feast by acquiring the finest foods available. I gained 10 pounds just watching the movie. My mouth could almost taste the delicious treats. This simple, austere faith community tries really hard not to enjoy it. However, the absence of joy gives way to laughter and joy.
The sisters and the others are so transformed by the feast that they open up their lives to the celebrative power of the Holy Spirit and it was like the Day of Pentecost. The power of joy was turned on. They sing a hymn of praise and joy. One of the sisters is heard saying, "the stars have moved closer tonight." The sisters learned what Joseph Marmion once stated: "Joy is the echo of God''s life and presence within us. Christianity stripped of joy is not Christianity at all."
Babette can sense the sisters are sad because they believe Babette will soon leave them. She declares, "I cannot leave you now; I have no funds. I spent it all on the Feast."
In the reading from Luke''s Gospel today, we see Jesus dining at the house of a Pharisee. They were watching Jesus carefully, in all probability to "trap" him. It makes you wonder if they were enjoying the meal and the wisdom of the man they had invited. At this dinner, Jesus gives a foretaste of what the dinner guest list will look like in the Kingdom he is building. There will be room for all the "Babettes" of the world who are fleeing injustice. Jesus'' guest list and the company he shared that meal with were substantially different in their inclusiveness.
The sisters and the small band of the faithful represent, in many ways, the attitude we see Judas expressing in John''s Gospel today in Chapter 12:1-8. Judas is hot under the collar that the perfume which could have been sold to provide funds for the General Fund were used to anoint the feet of Jesus. However, Judas, like the dear sisters, failed to realize that some things in life must be done when the opportunity presents itself. To wait would be to miss the moment. Imagine what would have happened if in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the father would have waited three months to throw the party to welcome home his son--just to be sure his repentance was real. God''s love is not only inclusive but extravagant. This is what Babette brings this community of faith. Her gift is that of joy and celebration. Jesus knew that this dimension of our relationship with God can often be overlooked and forgotten. We can become so serious that we forget to smile.
Dr. Fred Craddock tells of growing up during The Great Depression and how often money was not in great supply for his family. The family had to move to town to seek work. Every able family member tried to find some work to earn money. The family kept a cigar box on the kitchen table where all the funds that were earned were kept, in order that his mother could pay the rent and buy the necessary food items. However, once in a while his Dad, on a Friday night, would take the money and go to town and buy his wife a box of chocolate or a beautiful rose. She would always "fuss" and tell her husband that they did not have the funds. One day his father said something that he never forgot. He said to Mrs. Craddock, "When our lives are defined by what goes in and out of the "box," we will then be poor people. Life would have then robbed us of our joy."
The same principle works in the Christian Church. When our church''s success is defined by what goes in and out of the offering plate, then we, too, have allowed our lives to be stripped of the joy of our salvation.
The only thing I know that is more outrageous than the feast that Jesus is throwing is the fact that he has extended the invitation to us.
If it were not for the sacrament of Holy Communion and what we commonly call the Lord''s Table, all this talk about forgiveness, salvation, atonement and joy would simply be that--just talk. However, the table is proof that God''s forgiveness is not only "words" but a powerful witness of his "WORD."
I pray that our congregational life can also be continually transformed by the grace of God. To know that we have been eternally loved and sought from the foundation of the world and that our name is on the guest list of Jesus is a great source of joy for our lives. To know that Jesus Christ has given everything he had for the feast, his very own life, is also a source of great joy for us. As your pastor, I will work overtime to be sure that our understanding of salvation will not brand us as a bunch of killjoys but a people who are indeed full of joy. Yes, you and I have the privilege of being special guests at the fantastic feast being sponsored by Jesus of Nazareth. Would you expect anything less from such a fantastic God?
Amen and Amen.