What do you want Jesus to do for you?

What do you want Jesus to do for you?

Matthew 20

This is by far my favorite week of the year! (Christmas is a close second.)

The time between Palm Sunday and Easter always transports my heart to the week in history where Jesus was recognized and praised as Messiah, where He willingly went to the Cross to purchase my salvation, and where He offered me the full, eternal, purposeful life that only comes through His resurrection.

What a week it was! (And still is!)

But today, I want to consider what happened right before that week started. Mathew, Mark and Luke all tell us Jesus came through Jericho, on the way to Jerusalem, just before the Triumphal Entry (which is Palm Sunday… read about that in Matthew 21), and in Jericho, He walked by two blind men who got really excited when they found out Jesus was there — and, much to the chagrin of the crowd, they started to cry out at the top of their lungs, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!”

These guys understood more about Jesus than others did. They called Jesus, Lord. They knew He was the Messiah (that’s what the term “Son of David” meant). And they knew He had the power to enact a merciful reality in their lives.

Jesus stopped, approached them and asked the single most important question they’d ever heard, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

While the answer may seem obvious to you and me, it may not have been so then. These men had long had an identity that was wrapped up in their blindness, and their income was completely dependent on the kindness of strangers who cared about their plight (and sacrificing identity and income, even for wholeness, can be a pretty scary thing!).

What do you want Me to do for you? 

How about enough money that we’ll be set for life?
What about influence or power that we’ve never experienced because of our disability?
Can You create real relationships that will supersede what we’ve experienced as “outsiders” to society?
There were a lot of answers these men could have given; but, of course, the one thing they’d always wanted was the only thing they would ask for, regardless of the consequences: “Lord, we want our sight.”

As we head into this Easter Week, I believe Jesus wants to ask you the same question, and, while there are many, many answers we can give, if we’re paying attention, the only one that makes sense is the answer these two gave.

“Lord, help us to see!” 

We need to see how God sees, eyes fully opened, not blinded by the conditions of our lives or our culture. Like Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6, we need to see heavens opened and perceive the spiritual reality around us. Like the Apostle Paul in Acts 26, we need to see a clear vision of God’s purpose for our lives.

And like these men, we need our eyes opened, so we can see Jesus and follow Him along the road!

Join me on Good Friday at Noon or 7pm, as we open our eyes to see the reality of the Cross, and then again on Easter Sunday at 8am, 9:30am or 11:30am, as we joyfully celebrate the power of resurrection freedom in and through our lives!

He is risen—Indeed!!!

Pastor Tim Clark.....
The Church On The Way,