Journey Through the Gospel of LukeSample

Kingdom of Lost, Last & Least: In Front of the Text

Consider the Workbook questions about Luke 14 and the film “Babette’s Feast” (regardless of whether you’ve seen it or not):

Have you ever followed the teaching of Jesus in Luke 14:12–14 by giving a banquet for those who could never “repay” you? If so, what was it like?

Is there a group of people for whom you could hold a “banquet,” or even a small dinner party, of the kind Jesus is describing? Record below a plan for holding a dinner party for a group of people who can never invite you to a similar celebration or repay you in kind.

A Banquet for the Poor, the Crippled, the Lame & the Blind

The 1987 film, Babette’s Feast, is a classic example of a group of people being called to partake in a lavish banquet. In this Danish/French production, Babette is a woman desperate to find shelter; she’s a refuge from the revolutionary disorder of the late 1840’s in Europe. She’s taken in by two Danish sisters who live in a community of aging Pietistic Protestants. She serves as the sisters’ cook. Unbeknownst to the sisters, in her former life Babette was a master chef.

The film takes a turn when Babette wins a lottery. This provides the perfect opportunity for her to leave the secluded community and make a new life for herself. Instead Babette decides to give it all away. She does so by holding the most extravagant feast imaginable for the sisters and their austere religious community. She spends the entirety of her winnings to express her thankfulness and love. Her extravagant act has broad impact. The feast causes people in the community to enjoy life and each other in profound new ways.

Babette’s Feast is a moving allusion to the “Parable of the Great Banquet.” (In other ways, it alludes to “The Last Supper” too.)

Read Luke 14:12-24.

Like the man who held the banquet in Luke 14, Babette takes all that she has and gives a royal feast to a poor, downcast community.

Have you ever followed the teaching of Jesus in Luke 14:12-14 by giving a banquet for those who could never “repay” you? If so, what was it like?