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“What Do You Want Me To Do For You?”
Mark 10:32-52
A Sermon Preached by The Rev. Douglas M. Donley
There are two demands in this scripture. One is from the mouths of the disciples James and John. The other comes from a blind beggar named Bartimeus. Jesus’ answer to both demands is the same: “what do you want me to do for you?” We might very well find our way through the wilderness of this life, if we take Jesus seriously when he asks us that question. “What do you want me to do for you?” What do you want from Jesus? Hold that thought.
The two responses could not be more different. The disciples asked, “Let me sit at your right and left hand in your glory.” An arrogant request, but an honest one. It was the reward of a life of faith. Many of us do what we can to live a great Christian life so that we can have that figurative place at the throne of God in heaven. Bartimeus, on the other hand, wanted only to see again. And to him, that was salvation. That was life.
Let’s look closer at the two stories. First, James and John, the sons of Zebedee came up to Jesus and demanded something from him. They said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” It reminds me of the ultimatums my kids ask of me. “I know you’re going to say no, but will you please…”
Someone else’s child asked her father for a new bike. The father said, “if you want a bike that badly, pray to Jesus about it.” So the child dutifully prayed to Jesus right before bed. She woke up in the morning and there’s still no bike. So she upped the anti. She prayed even more fervently, but still no bike. Finally, she takes the statue of Mary off the mantelpiece, gets a clean towel from the bathroom, lays Mary ever-so-gently on the towel and puts her in the drawer right next in her bedside table. She then starts to pray, “dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mother again…”
James and John knew they had an unreasonable request. That’s why they tried to trap Jesus: “Do whatever we ask of you.” Jesus said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said, “Let us sit at your right and left hand in your glory.” A pretty bold demand, isn’t it? They thought they should have the reward that they had earned. But Jesus said, “don’t act like that. Remember that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Don’t try to be like rulers of this world who lord it over everyone else. Be better than that. Your problem is, you don’t see that such an arrangement is inherently flawed. My reign doesn’t look like this world. In my reign everyone is equal. You become first by being the last. You become the greatest by being a servant.”
James and John were blind to Jesus’ ways and his priorities, not unlike the other disciples. I don’t know if they ever really got it. What I do know is that at the crucifixion, at Jesus’ “glory” it is not James and John at his right and left, but two criminals.
Enter the next scene. Here, Jesus meets a physically blind person by the name of Bartimeus, Bart for short. But this person, who did not have the use of his eyes, saw what even the disciples did not see. When Bart heard that Jesus of Nazareth was in town, he started yelling, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Now, there were probably lots of people yelling, but none of them used “Son of David”. In fact, no one in the Bible called him Son of David except for the supposedly blind beggar Bart. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” People tried to quiet him, but like the rocks and stones on Palm Sunday, there was no stopping Bart. Jesus finally said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
Bart answered, “Let me see again.” And just like he said to the Syro-phoenician woman and the woman with the flow of blood, Jesus said, “Go, your faith has made you well.” Bartimeus saw clearly. He knew Jesus was the messiah and Jesus knew that his request was not so that he could gain status. “Your faith has made you well.” Like the Wizard of Oz, Jesus declared, You were not blind at all, you saw the truth and you had the courage to say it.
Jesus asked Bartimeus, “what do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus answered, “Let me see again.” That is what we seek as well. Let me see the way to a new tomorrow. Let me see the truth and be set free. Let me see my sister or my brother as a person. Let me see my adversary as a child of God. Let me see again. As Ched Myers puts it, “Let us see through the eyes of love, so that we might follow you on the Way.” (Say to this Mountain, 1999:139)
You know, we have people ask us all the time, “What do you want me to do for you?” And we usually have pretty good answers for them. We go to a restaurant and the waiter says, what do want me to get for you?” And we place a clear order. We go to a dry cleaner’s, a car repair place, a bookstore, a library. If someone asks us what do you want me to do for you, we have a specific response. We know what we want.
But what would happen if Jesus asked you, “What do you want me to do for you?” What would you say? If you stumble on this question, consider this: why is it that we might be clearer about what we want other parts of the world to grant us, but not so clear about what we want from Jesus?
Our response might be, “Make me a better person, a better spouse, a better parent, a better son or daughter, a better lover.” “Grant me wisdom, grant me courage for the living of these days.” “Grant me peace on earth.” “Please stop disasters from happening.” “Give me the assurance that you’re really there and that you really care.”
But this is not a rhetorical question. This is a personal and vitally important question. I want you to think about what you might ask of Jesus. Leave aside all of the theologizing about how God answers prayers or if Jesus is really the one to pray to and how it works in the hierarchy of the godhead. What might you need from Jesus? What might you need to see? Be careful, now about what you might ask for. It might just come true.
The point of religion, the point of the faithful life is that Jesus asks this question all the time. “What do you want me to do for you?”
So think about what you might want to ask Jesus. Think about what you need. Think about what the world needs. Think about what your neighbor, or even your adversary needs and I mean truly needs. And remember that Jesus asks you and asks me “what do you want me to do for you?”
I invite you, in the silence following this sermon, to have a conversation with Jesus. What is it you want to ask of Jesus? Jesus is asking, “What do you want me to do for you?” What do you want Jesus to do for you?