Quid Pro Non
Luke 17:11-19
November 28, 2019 anno Domini – Redeemer
Quid pro quo. This year, if you turned on your TV or heard any news you learned that wonderful little Latin phrase. In English it simply means “something for something” which doesn’t sound nearly as smart and rhythmic as “quid pro quo.”
The world runs quid pro quo and that isn’t necessarily sinful. Some of you will quid pro quo tonight and early tomorrow morning. You’ll head out for the black Friday sales. You will give something (your money) for something that you convinced your husband or wife is too good to pass up. Don’t try to leave Best Buy without paying for your 75 inch TV or your new iPad. Don’t leave Olive Garden without paying for your food. You will get arrested if you don’t do “quid pro quo” and give your something (money) for their something (a 75 inch TV or your Zuppa Toscana and breadsticks.)
The lepers could not do “quid pro quo.” They had nothing to give Jesus, except leprosy. They had lost everything to their disease. They were fired from their jobs, expelled from their families, forced out of their homes. A leper was considered unclean according to Old Testament civil law. Anyone who touched you or shared food with you was also made unclean so lepers were excommunicated from family, home, work, and village.
That is why when the lepers find Jesus walking down their driveway of despair and death they cry out to Him, “Jesus, have mercy on us.” That’s pretty close to the Latin of the liturgy “Kyrie Eleison – Lord have mercy on us.” They could have been praying, “Quid pro non – Give us something for nothing.”
That is the only thing dead people can pray. The Lepers had nothing to give to Jesus. Neither do you. Your heart is full of sin. Your life is filled with self-service. The very best works that we do are with mixed motives. Thus says the Lord.
The good news is that Jesus walked down our driveway of despair and death. When Jesus met the lepers He was going down from Galilee to Jerusalem to die for the lepers and to die for you. God our heavenly Father does not work like Best Buy or Olive Garden. He does not work like you. The Kingdom of heaven is not “quid pro quo.” God does not say, “If you give me something I’ll give you Jesus.” God works “quid pro non.” The Father gives His Son for nothing, for free, for you.
This is why Jesus was so upsetting to the Pharisees, the religious leaders, and those who thought they were something. Jesus kept hanging out with those who were nothing. He touched the sick, the blind, and the demonic. He ate with prostitutes and tax collectors. He didn’t back away from lepers. All these people, just like you, were sinners, with nothing to offer God. Nothing to purchase God’s favor. Nothing to merit His gifts. If you think you are something before God, like the Pharisees, then you need nothing from Jesus.
The lepers were nothing. Jesus answers their prayer because that is who He is. He is the cleanser of Lepers and the Savior of sinners. He is God’s everything – His love, His forgiveness, His adoption for our nothing. Jesus sent them to the priest – the one guy who could declare them clean. As they went they were cleansed – quid pro non. In this miracle Jesus reveals who the God of Scripture is and how He operates. God gives us forgiveness when all we have is sin. He gives us life when all we earned is death. He declares us holy when all we do is profane. He delivers hope when we are hopeless. God the Father gives His Son to die for the sin of the world. Saint Paul asks in Romans, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (8:31) If God does the greatest thing – forgive your sin, will He not also give you all your lesser needs – turkey, mashed potatoes, a nice couch to nap on while you pretend to watch the football game.
The lepers received the little gift first. They were cleansed of their leprosy. They were healed by Jesus for nothing. He didn’t require them to return thanks. He didn’t say, “I’ll heal you if you’ll believe.” That would not be gift that would be quid pro quo. He healed all ten lepers even though nine of them would not even bother to thank Him.
God will give you everything you need for daily life even if you never pray, even if you don’t believe, even if you only thank Him one day a year. If that’s all you want from God He won’t force forgiveness, eternal life, or the resurrection on you. But learn from the 10th leper that God would give you more than daily bread. Jesus asks, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Jesus wasn’t upset that the nine lepers didn’t return thanks. He was saddened because He could have given them more. He was saddened because they should have known better as Jewish men. They were the children of the promise and they didn’t recognize God’s promise fulfilled right before their eyes. They just kept running to the black Friday sales.
The tenth Samaritan got more than clear skin and earthly life. Jesus gave him forgiveness, the gift that also gives eternal life and that resurrected body that never breaks or hurts or suffers. Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well. “Made you well” is the same word for saved. Rise and go your faith has saved you. The Samaritan returned believing Jesus was either from God or God Himself. He believed his healing was a gift from God and to that faith Jesus gave even more. He gave quid pro non. God gives all His gifts to you for you for nothing in the name of Jesus. Amen.