What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey

Week 3: Chapter 2 — Babette's Feast

Read Chapter 2 of What's So Amazing About Grace? Reference: Isak Dinesen's short story "Babette's Feast."

Through the lens of a famous short story, Yancey shows us what grace looks like when it is lavished extravagantly — and how religious people sometimes have the hardest time receiving it.

Discussion Questions

7 questions

1.Yancey uses Isak Dinesen's story "Babette's Feast" as an extended parable of grace. Summarize the story briefly: Who is Babette, what does she do with her lottery winnings, and how do the villagers initially respond to her feast?

2.The villagers in the story are devout, austere Lutherans who have agreed among themselves to take no pleasure in the food — to eat it with stone faces so as not to be corrupted by worldly enjoyment. What does their response reveal about how religiosity can become an obstacle to receiving grace?

3.Babette spends every last franc of her fortune on one meal for people who, for the most part, do not appreciate it and do not deserve it. In what ways is Babette's act an image of what God does for us in grace — giving everything without expectation of return?

4.Yancey notes that by the end of the feast, old grudges are healed, old loves are remembered, and long-hardened hearts are softened — all without a single sermon being preached. What does that suggest about the power of grace as an act, not just a doctrine?

5.Think of a time when someone showed you unexpected, unearned generosity — a "Babette's feast" moment in your own life. How did it affect you? Did you receive it easily, or did you resist it the way the villagers did?

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Closing Prayer

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Generous God, we confess that we have sometimes been like the stiff-faced villagers — receiving your goodness with suspicion, guarding ourselves against delight, and treating grace as something to be endured rather than savored. Thank you for the feast you have prepared for us at great cost to yourself. Help us to be people who receive your lavish gifts with gratitude and then spend ourselves just as freely on others. Amen.

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