What Do You Want me to do for you

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO FOR YOU

Luke 18:35-19:1

35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." 38 He called out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" 39 Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" 40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him, 41 "What do you want me to do for you?" "Lord, I want to see," he replied. 42 Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has healed you."  43 Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God.

NIV

We could focus on the blind man and how he would not be silenced but was persistent in his plea to Jesus. We could focus on how the crowd tried to silence him, and how that crowd, being those leading the procession would have been disciples of Jesus, believers who did not want anyone bothering their time with Jesus. However, what is important to focus on are the words of Jesus, “What do you want me to do for you?”. Interestingly, the blind man did not spend much effort in a long drawn-out prayer using his most eloquent words and quoting some words from the prophets to express his need. He merely asked, “Lord, I want to see”. Jesus still asks us that question today, “What do you want me to do for you?”. We know Jesus has already done so much for us, shedding his blood so that we were cleansed from our sins because of what Jesus did, the Father no longer counts our sins against us. We also know that Jesus was resurrected so that we can be assured that we will be resurrected and have the peace that Jesus already gave us. We know that He has already prepared a place for us in our Father’s house. But it is this question, “What do you want me to do for you?” is in the present tense which means this question is for us right now. Jesus wants to know what he can do for us today, at this moment. We should not allow anyone to silence us, but just ask what we need, right now, I need this, or I need you to do that for me, right now, “Lord, I need to be healed”. Jesus told the blind he would think about it, asking if the blind man felt he desired to see, or if he was worthy of seeing, or that when I come back by, I would do it, you have to wait a while. No, no, Jesus simply told him, “Receive your sight, your faith has healed you”. When Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” just ask! He already told us that we can ask him anything and he would do it so to bring glory to the Father, so we simply need to ask him, when we hear him tell us, “What do you want me to do for you?”