The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, September 2nd: Sirach 3: 17-29; Hebrews 12: 18-19, 22-24; Luke 14:1,7-14)

JESUS SAYS: QUID PRO NO

There’s an old expression that we hear once in a while: quid pro quo. It’s a Latin phrase meaning, roughly, “something for something,” or “this for that.” It means a deal has been made to give one thing in return for another. You do this for me, and I’ll do that for you.

We heard this recently when President Bush commuted the prison sentence of Scooter Libby. (What he should’ve done instead was issue an Executive Order that instantly gave Mr. Libby a new first name, one more appropriate for a grown man rather than an 8-year-old boy.)

“Did the president buy Libby’s silence?!” critics demanded. “Was there a quid pro quo?!” People wanted to know whether the promise of no jail time was designed to keep Libby from revealing to the world that both Dick Cheney and Karl Rove are actually sinister robots created by a Black Ops division of the CIA in an subterranean laboratory—or something to that effect.

And back in January, 2001, when it was learned that Bill Clinton gave last-minute presidential pardons to a whole gaggle of crooks and schnooks who had directly or indirectly donated money to him, other critics asked similar questions. “Did the president sell pardons?! Was there a quid pro quo?!”

Well, in both cases the answer is: Duh! Of course there was a quid pro quo. Modern politicians do not do a single thing in their entire lives without first calculating exactly how it can benefit them.

Some naïve folks thought it might have been just a coincidence that the same people who ponied up six-figure sums for Mr. Clinton’s presidential library soon after received surprise last-minute pardons. Others insisted that Scooter’s get-out-of-jail-free card was purely the result of Mr. Bush’s finely-honed sense of justice. Yeah, sure. I suppose these same folks still believe in the Tooth Fairy.

If U.S. presidents are a good example of quid pro quo run amuck (along with narcissism, megalomania, and in certain cases, libido run amuck), it does not mean the rest of us are unfamiliar with the concept. In fact, the idea of quid pro quo is essential for a civilized society. Without agreements, contracts, promises, deals, treaties, etc., our daily lives would be chaos.

We engage in quid pro quos all the time. In the supermarket, we give the cashier $122.78, and in return she agrees to let us carry out six bags of groceries, which oftentimes contain two or three items that are actually edible. (Don’t you hate going to a food store, and by the time you purchase paper towels, dishwasher detergent, trash bags, toilet paper, birthday cards, etc., you’ve used up the entire weekly grocery budget but you haven’t bought a single thing to eat?)

Or we give our car to the mechanic for an oil change, and in return he promises to actually change the oil—and afterward to inform us in the most grave tone of voice that the car desperately needs at least $1800 in emergency repairs, and he really doesn’t want to alarm us, of course, but in his opinion we will be risking our very lives if we even look at the car, let alone drive it.

Or we agree to use our last vacation day and stay home from work to meet the plumbing contractor at 9 a.m., and in return he promises to call us at 3:30 p.m. and say he’s sorry but he got tied up and can we try for the next day instead?

So, reaching agreements, making deals, and doing something in return for something else are not unfamiliar behaviors. However, in the 14th chapter of Luke’s gospel, Jesus offered a stunning idea: quid pro quo is a no-no.

While dining at the home of a leading Pharisee, Jesus told his host not to invite wealthy or influential guests to future banquets, because “they may invite you back and you have repayment.”

Instead, Jesus told the man, “Invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (in other words, those without wealth or influence). Jesus explained, “Blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you.”

Now it’s important to understand that Jesus was not teaching us to shun all agreements and repayment. He does not want us to give the cashier $122.78 and walk out of the store without the six bags of inedible products (nor, obviously, does He want us to stuff packages of frozen chicken down our pants and waddle out of the store without paying for them).

Jesus was teaching the concept of sacrificial giving: doing something good for someone else for love’s sake alone. The good deed is done without any thought of future repayment or present recognition. It is done for no other reason than our all-loving Creator taught us that it’s better to give than to receive.

We have only two duties in this world: to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. When we go through life focused only on the quid pro quos—always asking, “What’s in it for me?” or playing the self-pitying martyr, “After all I’ve done for you, this is the way you repay me!”—we fail in those two duties. When our attention is directed inward, we are unable to love God or others. Also, we are unable to experience true peace and happiness.

Yes, quid pro quos—making contracts and honoring agreements—are necessary in a civilized society. But sacrificial giving, the true agape love of God, is the key to personal serenity and joy. Not only is it the source of happiness, but it is the path to Heaven. Jesus explained to his host, the no doubt quite confused at this point leading Pharisee, that sacrificing for those who can never repay you will indeed be rewarded someday. Jesus said, “You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

No good deed goes unseen by our heavenly Father. If there is no quid pro quo here on earth, there surely will be, a thousand times over, in Heaven.

This divine teaching goes against the grain of our self-centered culture—just like most of Jesus’ other teachings—but it is His will for our lives.

©2007