As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
“Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”
Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
Everywhere Jesus went, He healed the sick. It was part of His ministry. These two blind beggars had heard the stories. Being blind, it is unlikely that they had ever had the opportunity to travel to the countryside of Galilee to here Jesus preach to the crowds. They likely had never actually heard Jesus teach. But they had heard the stories. So when they heard the commotion of a crowd passing by, they probably asked what was going on, and upon hearing that Jesus was passing by, they began to yell. They had nothing to lose.
When the Bible says they "called out," I imagine it is being polite. These are desperate men with a quickly disappearing chance of ever meeting the Healer. They had to do something to get Jesus' attention, so they began to yell. They yelled loudly enough that people in the crowd were telling them to shut-up. But they didn't shut-up. They yelled loudly enough that Jesus stopped to investigate.
Jesus, as He often did, asked the simple question, "What do you want me to do for you?" It is a simple question, but we who are outside of the story looking in understand something they didn't. We understand that the man asking the question is more than a healer, more than a rabbi, more than just Messiah even; He is the Lord of lords and King of kings; He is the Creator of all that is. Because of who Jesus is, we understand the import of the question. Jesus asks, "What do you want me to do for you?" And He has the ability to grant any request they might make. When God asks this question, it is significant.
The book of James tells us that often we "have not because we ask not." Jesus Himself said in several places that any [Kingdom] thing we ask for in His name will be accomplished. I wonder if we were as desperate as these two blind men sitting beside the road calling out to Jesus -I wonder if in our times of need we called out in this same way, if Jesus would ask the same question of us.
Today, what do you want Jesus to do for you?
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