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| Healing Blind Bartimaeus - Harold Copping |
TO CHEW ON: "So Jesus answered and said to him, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' The blind man said to Him, 'Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.'" - Mark 10:51
Why did Jesus ask blind Bartimaeus what he wanted? Couldn't He see that the man was blind? Couldn't He have assumed that a cure for blindness was what Bartimaeus wanted?
It's interesting that here and in other places, Jesus asked questions that required a personal response from those He was talking to.
Sometimes it was a question about faith. When two blind men followed Jesus crying out, "'Son of David, have mercy on us!'" Jesus asked, "'Do you believe that I am able to do this?'" They said "'Yes,'" and Jesus touched their eyes with "'According to your faith let it be to you'" - Mark 9:28-30. Professions of faith were also asked of Peter (Matthew 16:15), the woman with the hemorrhage (Luke 8:45), and Martha (John 11:26).
Sometimes Jesus asked those near to tell Him what was on their minds. One time the disciples were too embarrassed to answer (Mark 9:33). Another time, the resurrected Jesus asked that question of two grief-absorbed disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:17).
When Jesus and the disciples were confronted with 5,000 hungry people, Jesus asked Philip for his suggestion on how to fill that need. John tells us later that it was a test question. Do you think Philip passed the test? (John 6:5-7).
Later in John 6 after Jesus said some controversial things about eating His body and drinking His blood, many followers left Him. He asked the twelve about their loyalty in John 6:67.
Then there is that poignant conversation between Jesus and the beaten Peter, when Jesus asked him three times, "'Do you love me?'" (John 21:15-17).
And in John 5:6 as well as in today's reading we have Jesus addressing sick men. He asks the man at the Bethesda pool, sick for 38 years, "'Do you want to be made well?'" And to blind Bartimaeus "What do you want me to do for you?'"
Suppose Jesus came to you and me today? What would He ask us? There is something powerful about thinking through and framing a reply. So, what will we answer to:
- Do you have faith in Me?
- What are you thinking about?
- Do you think I can fill your need?
- Will you stick with Me?
- Do you love Me?
- What do you want me to do for you?
PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for understanding our human hearts and the value of us expressing what's in them. Help me to make a habit of being frank and honest with you. Amen.
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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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