March 28, 2013

Clay Nelson

Maundy Thursday


Maundy Thursday is, scripturally and liturgically speaking, the busiest day of the church year. It’s that day we remember the Last Supper, the washing of the disciple’s feet, the giving of the new commandment to love one another, Judas’ betrayal, the agony in the garden, the arrest, and Peter’s threefold denial. So much to choose from, so little time. Each story touches the core of who we are as followers in Jesus’ way. It is always difficult to choose, but I think I will go with the Last Supper which we celebrate tonight and every Sunday. It is what nourishes us on our journey. It is also the story that connects all the other stories.

I’m drawn to it because I fear we might take it for granted. When that becomes the case it becomes as memorable as the beans and toast we had last Tuesday instead of the feast it is. I know it is hard to think of a wafer or morsel of bread and a sip of wine as a feast, but the Last Supper celebrating the Passover would have been the equivalent of a Christmas dinner. I don’t want us to lose the meal-ness of communion. 

Karen Blixen who wrote under the pseudonym Isak Dinesan captured what I’m getting at in her short story that became an Oscar-winning film, Babette’s Feast. I’m sure many of you have read or seen it, but it may have been awhile so let me remind you of the story.

It takes place in a small, poor rural village in Denmark full of somber people. It is not a happy place. It has lived in the shadow of death under the teachings of their now departed pastor, whose work of simple charity is carried on by his unmarried daughters, Martina and Phillipe. Into this world crashes a French woman, Babette, who has been made homeless by the revolution in France. The sisters take her in and she uses her skill as a chef to make the ministrations of food delivered to the community’s poor a little tastier. Though the “spice” that is added to the food is considered by the community to be naughty, if not sinful, still all give thanks (and even smile) for Babette’s presence.

Then news comes that Babette has won the Lottery in France, a large sum of money. The community fears that she will leave them, fears that mount as Babette announces that she will make a Feast for the small gathering. The simple folk are aghast as they see the exotic pheasants, turtles, not to mention the wine, all for the coming feast. They do not want to be impolite, but are afraid they will be possessed by some demon if they partake in the feast. Unaware, Babette prepares and serves the finest meal they will ever eat. And the meal transforms them. Their bitter disputes and long secret indiscretions dissolve into the peace and harmony of God’s future kingdom, evidenced as they finally leave the meal singing a hymn of praise and faith in that future.

But the prospect of Babette leaving the community with her newly acquired wealth still looms, In fact it is now more bitter, since her gift of the meal. So the sisters approach her and ask her about it. Babette then confesses that she has spent the entire fortune on the one evening’s meal, so she will continue to stay and serve the community. It is then that you realize the extraordinary gift of grace that is the center of the story. It was not about money, it was about Babette’s gift of self in joy and freedom, about her being a servant, and yet finding the fullness of her humanity in that servanthood. In making that gift the community is transformed.

My first encounter with this story gave me a much richer understanding of the meal-ness of communion. It is so much more than beans on toast. What we are about to partake in is Jesus’ feast and a gourmet one at that. It is his life given freely upon which we dine. He freely gave all that he had that we might find joy and freedom. He gave it not only that we might be nourished but so that we might freely offer ourselves as a feast for others and find the fullness of our humanity in servanthood.

But in case we miss the point he then washes feet.

Amen.