“What do you want me to do for you?”
That’s the question that Jesus asked the blind beggar who called out to him
from the side of the road. (Luke 18:35-43) “What do you want me to do for you?”
When we read this little story, we are likely to think, “What a silly question!
Surely Jesus knew that this man wanted to be healed of his blindness. Why, his
life must have been miserable! All he could do was beg for charity along the
road where people would see him when they passed by. Why did Jesus even bother
to ask that question?” Maybe it’s because Jesus knew that that sometimes the
healing people want – the healing that they need – isn’t what we think it is.
Now, the blind man in this story did indeed ask for his sight. But he might
have asked for something very different. Let’s rewind that story and stop it
right after Jesus asks the question, “What do you want me to do for you?” Then
let’s imagine what else that blind man might have asked of Jesus.
He might have asked to be healed of
resentment. Let’s imagine that his blindness came about after his neighbor’s
donkey kicked him in the head one afternoon. From that day on, he has simmered
with hate towards that neighbor. He knows that the resentment filling him is
only poisoning his own life; but he can’t get past it. When Jesus asked him, “What
do you want me to do for you,” he might have answered, “Lord, I’ve learned to
live with my blindness; but my hate is ruining my life. Help me to get rid of
it!”
Or he might have asked that Jesus
heal a broken relationship. I suspect that he has no family now; and maybe it
was his own fault. He knows what kind of a man he was back in the day. He was
so full of himself that he abused his wife and neglected his children; and one
day, they simply up and left him. His blindness has showed him all too well how
much he needs other people; and now he knows what a fool he was. More than
anything, he would like be reunited with the wife and children who left him so
long ago. When Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you,” he might have
said, “I want to reconcile with my family. Can you help me do that?”
Or he might have asked Jesus to heal
an old wound that has been festering since his childhood. Oh, it’s not a wound
that the world can see. No, it’s a wound in his soul. Imagine that many years
ago when he was a child – way, way back when – his actions contributed to the
death of a close friend. He never meant for it to happen. It was completely
unintentional, the end of a chain of events that was due to childhood
foolishness and bad decisions. But he has never forgiven himself. For all these
years, he has been convinced that he is not worth anyone else’s love; and his
blindness is proof that even God doesn’t love him. “When Jesus asked, “What do
you want me to do for you,” he might have said, “Lord, can you just love me –
and help me to love myself?”
Physical wounds, as crippling as they
may be, aren’t the only conditions that keep us from living the full, joyful
lives that God wants for us. We suffer from all kinds of other wounds, too:
emotional, mental, and spiritual. Jesus is ready to help to heal us from even
those wounds. Right now, Jesus is asking you, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Why don’t you tell him?
No comments:
Post a Comment