The movie was about the two devout daughters of a Lutheran minister and their servant named Babette. Both daughters devoted their entire lives in service of God by leading a small fellowship of Christian believers and attending to the needs of elderly townspeople. Years after the dismissed of the minister, the unity of the Christian community was endangered by the growing internal disceptation and arguments. Along came Babette, a French woman who had lost her family in a civil war, seeking refuge from the two sisters. The story culminated in a sumptuous feast prepared by Babette coinciding with a memorial to the reverend minister's 100th birthday. The feast was mistaken to be a serious crisis by the two sisters, and consequently, involved the disunited Christian group. Surprisingly, they began to collaborate and agreed upon a common strategy together to overcome this seeming crisis. The story concluded with a central theme that love transcends all things, bringing even different and difficult people to one accord.
In 1Corinthians 12:12-27, we see the Church (or her members) being described as the body of Christ. Similar to the movie, there could be internal divisions or conflicts within the Corinth church at that time. As their spiritual mentor, apostle Paul resolved this issue by stressing the importance of unity within the Church. He did this by giving a vivid illustration of the familiar body parts and their tightly coupled relationship with one another. He reminded that the Church does not consist of only one kind of person but several. And even though the members (parts) have different roles and abilities but they still belong to the same Church (body). As such, every member should have equal concern for one another, suffering and rejoicing together as one body. In the movie, there were also members with different personalities and traits. Small quarrels later became big conflicts because they did not know how to accommodate one another. Everyone had their own views on how things were being perceived or ought to be done. Focusing on their narrow self-interests, they failed to see the wider Church issues at large; for example, the shrinking congregation size.
In the subsequent chapter, apostle Paul also concluded that love is the essence in developing unity within the Church. The movie scriptwriter may have gathered his inspiration from here but have we, as members of the Church, truly understood and internalized this message?
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