Babette's Feast

(Originally published in Common Place Quarterley's "Character(s) To Live By"column)

A few years ago, our bible group meditated on the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah led his people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem so that they would no longer suffer derision and shame (Neh. 1: 3, 2:17). What we read resonated with us and we longed to see families build 'walls' of renewal, peace, reconciliation and protection. On completion of the wall, the Israelites gathered together and listened to the reading of the Word (Neh. 8). On hearing it, they wept and were overcome with grief at their sins. Nehemiah, the scribe priest Ezra, and the Levites told the people not to mourn but instead to: "go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). It was a call to enjoy the Lord and his loving-kindness.

Go and feast. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength! That verse struck me like lightning, and since then, I am more intentional about preparing and celebrating feasts—attuning my heart to the enjoyment of His goodness, and being more aware that sin and evil do not have the final word.

The short story, "Babette's Feast" by Isak Dinesen is set in a small town in Norway and is about two elderly women, Martine and Phillipa, daughters of an austere pastor that founded and left behind a pious community of adherents. When they were young, both sisters had been tempted by a life of worldly pleasure. They had turned away from it to work with the community whose members, “renounced the pleasures of this world, for the earth and all it held to them was but a kind of illusion." The community did not fare well, and there were many tensions amongst its members.

One day, Babette, a French political fugitive, arrived at the doorstep of the two sisters, and they welcomed her in as a housekeeper. "Babette had arrived haggard and wild-eyed like a hunted animal, but in her new, friendly surroundings she soon acquired all the appearance of a respectable and trusted servant … Her quiet countenance and her steady, deep glance had magnetic qualities; under her eyes things moved, noiselessly, into their proper places … when [she] took over the housekeeping its cost was miraculously reduced, and the soup pails and baskets acquired a new, mysterious power to stimulate and strengthen their poor and sick."

In a stroke of good fortune, Babette won the lottery, and she offered to prepare an extravagant celebratory meal for the community, on the anniversary of their founder's birthday. After a life of denying themselves any sensual indulgence, the sisters and their community were determined to tame their unruly tongues and cleanse them "of all taste and purify them of all delight or disgust of the senses, keeping and preserving them for the higher things of praise and thanksgiving." But, who can resist the powerful and healing work of an artist? Babette was an acclaimed chef, and she understood that "our society seems to be increasingly full of fearful, defensive, aggressive people, anxiously clinging to their property and inclined to look at their surrounding world with suspicion, always expecting an enemy to suddenly appear, intrude, and do harm. But still—that is our vocation: to convert … the enemy into a guest, and to create the free and fearless space where brotherhood and sisterhood can be formed and fully experienced" (Henry Nouwen).

At Babette's feast table, "mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and bliss kissed one another" (Psalm 85:10).

I encourage you to read this story (watch the film too!) and see for yourself how Babette created a fearless space where an authentic community was formed and fully experienced.

To gather joyfully is indeed a serious affair, for feasting and all enjoyments gratefully taken are, at their heart, acts of war. In celebrating this feast we declare that evil and death, suffering loss, sorrow and tears, will not have the final word.*

All feasting is an act of war! As a homeschooler, it is my vocation to layout an "abundant and delicate feast” (Charlotte Mason) of education. As a mother and wife, I desire to help my family turn their eye upon Jesus and look full into His wonderful face. As a friend I want to create a free and fearless space where relationships can be formed and fully experienced. As a believer, I am called to convert the enemy into a guest.

Babette's steadfastness and her sacrificial gift inspired me. In preparing an extravagant meal, she brought healing to herself and those around her. Now when I prepare simple feasts in my home and community, I see them as acts of love and blessing. Together we experience the joy of the Lord, and we taste and see that He is good! In unity, we see His goodness and take refuge in Him, declaring that He, and He alone, will be the final Word.

---

* Excerpt from "A Liturgy for Feasting with Friends" from Every Moment Holy Volume I by Douglas Kaine Mckelvey

Unless otherwise stated, all quotations are from “Babette’s Feast”