What Do You Want Me to Do for You? (Mark 10:50; Luke 18:41)

 What Do You Want Me to Do for You?

Sunday, April 10, 2022

This question occurs twice in two different settings in the Gospels. It is asked by Jesus, and in the first case (Mark 10:36) the disciples  ask an inappropriate request which Jesus rejects and offers a strong correction. In the second case (Luke 18:41), a blind beggar responds to Jesus question, “What do you want Me to do for you?”, with a simple, but humanly impossible request. And Jesus heals his blindness immediately. Why, when we are told to ask anything, are some requests answered, and others rejected?

Two disciples, James and John, have an agenda. They want the good seats in the kingdom, the high seats. They come to Jesus secretly and attempt to prepare Jesus by saying, “We want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” Jesus invites them to spell it out, and then says, “You do not know what you are asking.” And I suppose that is the case a good deal of the time in a great many of our prayers. We don’t know the implications of what we are asking. We don’t know the broader contours of the will of God. We don’t know the hidden motivations of our sinful hearts. Jesus then goes on in this most important passage to contrast the difference between the disciples’ desires: lordship; with the calling of Jesus and His followers: servanthood. The arrogant, selfish request presents an opportunity for Jesus to teach His slow-learning disciples a needed lesson.

In the second case, Jesus and His disciples are journeying in Jericho. A crowd lines the road, and from the back row, a blind beggar is hollering to attract Jesus’ attention. He is told to be quiet by those with better, closer spots. But he will not be silent, and Jesus hears. He stops and commands the blind man be brought to him. “‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me recover my sight.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.’ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God.”

Why the difference between the two cases? Because we’ve prayed the second prayer hundreds of times. Is it lack of faith? Not praying loud enough, or long enough? Is it because, like the disciples in case #1, there is an arrogant, selfish agenda? Is it because there is too much “lording” and not enough “serving”? Do we ask for a favor (like the disciples) instead of for mercy (like the blind man)?

Solomon was asked the similar question, and he asked God for understanding. Perhaps that is what we need as we wrestle with these things.