CUI BONO

 

“To whom is it a benefit?” This is what “cui bono” means, a Latin phrase used to indicate that crimes are often committed to benefit their perpetrators. The party responsible and/or profiting from that crime is not what it appears to be at first glance. If you're a fan of detective movies and novels like me, you'll know that the question: "Who profits from the crime?" often allows investigators to find the real culprit in a criminal case. Who would have thought that I would need to ask myself that question in the peaceful setting of a church program?

 

Before I tell you what happened, I would like to recall a well-known case.
In that case, the victim was not really a victim, because he was giving his life on his own. He already knew who was going to kill him, when and how it was going to happen, and why he had to die. He had even spoken about it to those around him.

“Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.”(Mark 8:31).   

Who benefited from Jesus' death? “Elementary, my dear Watson!” you might say. For us who have the big picture of the story, 2,000 years later, with the Old and New Testaments, we know that Jesus died for our sins, and it was God's plan to redeem us. But for the contemporaries of Jesus, like Peter, it was not that obvious. He began to reprimand Jesus for saying such things. Jesus turned to him and said: “ Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's.” If Jesus renounced the suffering and death of the cross, we would be the main losers, and Satan the beneficiary. Regarding this passage, the authors of the notes in the Africa Study Bible comment that many times we think of spiritual issues from a human perspective, but it is dangerous to do this.

Face with certains situations we can act or react by believing that we are acting for our own good, or for that of our loved ones, or for the Kingdom of God. And yet we are obstructing God's will, and it is the enemy who benefits from our action. For example, when someone has offended me or did something wrong, I may get angry and try to get even, or I may walk away from the relationship. But if the result of my reaction is resentment or bitterness, a lost soul, or the work of God being interrupted, it is the enemy who benefits from it. On the other hand, I may look weak and coward in the eyes of men by forgiving, loving or persevering. I can even be a loser on a human level; but spiritually it is victory over sin and evil, and eventually a soul won to Christ, or having seen the love and grace of God manifested.

Who really benefits from what I intend to do? That's the question I should have asked myself when that little incident happened during our Bible reading program last August.

 

To be able to read the whole Bible in 5 days, you need a team of about fifteen readers, taking turns in groups of 3. Some are faster than others. So, we usually schedule the fast readers several times, so that they get a good head start on the program, and thus allow the new ones to read at their own pace. One of these days, I found myself in a team where the 2 other readers were slower. While we were reading, one of them had more and more difficulty reading. There were just 2 chapters left before the break. So the leading deacon had to quickly make a decision without interrupting the reading. When my turn came to read, he discreetly motioned for me to finish the whole section. At the end of the reading, as I turned to the two young readers, I immediately understood that they had felt wronged and were hurt. One of them promptly stood up and left the room. The other was on the verge of tears. And me, I felt very bad and I was afraid to pass for a pretentious in the eyes of the crowd. Few people knew that it was the deacon who asked me to read all the two chapters. So I took it out on him and blamed him for exposing me to criticism. My concern was all about my reputation. After that incident, the team was not the same, some were angry, others frustrated. The young girl who left decided to continue the program as an auditor only. The other preferred to go and help out in the kitchen. And I decided to go back to my room, take a nap, and not come back until the reading had already started. And when I came back, I kept on an angry and sulky face to discourage the deacon from calling on me. At one point, I saw him turning his head left and right, looking for readers who would help completing the program on time. It was then that the obviousness of this situation struck me, like a final clue that enables the riddle to be solved. "Who benefits from our resignation?" I asked myself. Certainly not us; although we adopted these different attitudes for our own satisfaction, we were no less unhappy. Only the common enemy of the children of God won if the program ended up in a disaster, and readers resent each other. Having realized this, I quickly repented and took a step of reconciliation towards others.

So, I'm asking you, in this situation you're going through, that makes you want to give up, or get even ... cui bono, to whom is it a benefit?