What do you want me to do for you?

A sermon preached by Dr. Peter James Flamming, Pastor
First Baptist Church, Richmond, Virginia
From the Sermon Series: "Questions Jesus Still Asks"
December 19, 1999

Text: Mark 10:46-52

Mark 10 is our scripture for the day and I would like for you to turn over there. It will be of help to you as well as to me as we walk through this very interesting texture, colorful passage of scripture.

Mark the tenth chapter, the forty-sixth verse: Then they came to Jericho and as Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, [what that says is shut up!] but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."

So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you." Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

The fifty-first verse is crucial. It’s also the topic of this sermon. "What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see."

"Go", said Jesus, "Your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. This is the word of the Lord.

As I think back on classmates of my fifth and perhaps even fourth grades in school, two I can remember. The rest – I can’t even remember the name of the teacher. But Willfong and Harvey, I remember very much because they couldn’t get along. Harvey was a hand-raiser. When the teacher asked a question, his hand went up. It was automatic. Pavlav response. He might not know the answer; most of the time he didn’t. He would simply mumble, "Oh, I forgot." And at the back of the room is Willfong – that was his last name; I don’t remember his first name, we all called him Willfong. He was just an outstanding baseball player. He could pitch. He could throw a curve. He could make it drop. He could hit. He could run. When I was in the fifth grade, he was All World. And Willfong, as good as baseball player as he was, wasn’t much of a participant when it came to class. He would sit in the back or wherever they assigned him and when Harvey’s hand went up he would go [covered his head or rolled his eyes].

Which kind are you? The silent watchers who watched Harvey and Willfong? Or the Willfong who kind of looks on with a little bit of cynicism? Or Harvey, trying always to be out front. The kind, you know, who thinks he’s leading the band when in fact he’s being run out of town.

In this Internet age I figure things might have changed – glued to the PC at school. Wrong! I’ve checked with the teachers. I discovered that there are still the hand-raisers and the watchers, and the percentage is that the largest group watch. It isn’t necessarily the hand-raisers who are the brightest and the sharpest. I think Jesus chose his disciples from both groups. Which are you? Do you usually sit back and watch others take the initiative? Or are you front and center – do you raise your hand? Or do you, like Willfong, sit back and scowl.

Bartimaeus, the man in our Scripture, might have been either. But my guess is that most of the time he was quiet. Beggars would have been. He was a blind beggar. Talk about a double whammy – wow! But the truth was that if you were blind, about the only way you had of surviving was to beg. There was no disability insurance in those days. So he sat day after day by the side of the road hoping somebody might come by with a little extra cash. On this day, Jesus was coming by and Jesus triggered a new vision of hope within him and he turned from a quiet watcher to one who pleaded for mercy.

This snapshot in Mark 10:46 and following, is a fascinating picture of the early church. I would like for you to look at it with me. Unfortunately the guys who translated this paragraph in the NIV missed some of the texture and some of the beauty. Maybe they were up grading papers all night the night before. Their translation is correct – well, it’s just as blandly wise as the back of an oatmeal box. It misses something. I mean, look – for me, this one of the great paragraphs in the New Testament. I mean it is full of stuff! I just need a little "wow!" in there somewhere. I mean, if you give a girl a diamond ring you expect her to say more than "It’ll do." And the translators were in a "It’ll do" mood when they approached this episode in Jesus’ life.

So let me point out some of the texture, some of the beauty at least for me. Verse 46: This is the last miracle – healing miracle – in Mark’s gospel. And the man is named. Most of the healing miracles in the gospels, no name is given. The prefix "bar" in the ancient language meant "son of". He was the son of Timaeus. That his name should be remembered probably means that he was known to the early church – he was part of them; he belonged. Two possibilities here. Tradition says that Mark’s gospel is written with Simon Peter in the background – probably from Rome – and the reminiscence of Simon Peter included. It’s possible that Simon Peter knew Timaeus or it’s also possible that Bartimaeus – Timaeus’ son is now in Rome, and the church in Rome would have known Bartimaeus.

The important thing here is that what he has is that from the earliest glimpse the church is as we experience. It is a group of folks where we are treasured. Belonging happens. We are there, we are one of them, and we are remembered. And so it was with Bartimaeus. In verses 47 and 48, we have given to the world by Bartimaeus what we know as the Jesus prayer. It has blessed the lives of believers in all denominations since it was given. It becomes a prayer that is often repeated when it is hard to pray. "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." Literally, the word is "mercy-me". Now, we don’t have a verb for mercy in English. We have a slang word for mercy in English – "Oh, mercy!" We don’t have a verb. But will you let me invent one? Because that’s what the text says and it has kind of a vibrant "yes!" to it. A plea that has "Oh, yes!" Bartimaeus says, "Jesus, son of David. Mercy me." I’ve been there – have you?

Verse 51 – Although your translation doesn’t show it, the word Bartimaeus used for Rabbi is Rabboni. It’s only used twice in the New Testament – this is one of them. Do you know when the other one was? After the resurrection. Mary Magdelene is by the tomb, empty now. She is weeping. One walks up she thinks is the gardener and she asks, "Where have they taken him?" Jesus looks and says, "Mary." And that word that is full of such affection and admiration and commitment comes from her lips. "Rabboni!" Bartimaeus uses it now. Isn’t it interesting that the two people who use this word in the gospels are two who had no chance at living normal lives, and Jesus provided both. Mary, who was troubled in spirit; Bartimaeus who was blind in his eyes – Rabboni! You have to have a word for experiencing Jesus. In the days and the nights and the Jesus you live with, you’ve got to have a word. Rabboni! They use it.

Then there is this in verse 52 that amazing label that the Christians used for themselves before they were ever called Christians. They called themselves followers of the way. And that’s the exact translation – I mean that’s the exact word. It says that Bartimaeus – verse 52 – followed Jesus in the way. I don’t know how they missed that in the translation – followed him along the road. No, no – that’s not what is meant here. It means that Bartimaeus became part of the Jesus way. You see in John 14, Jesus three times is going to use "way" – "I am the way, the truth and the life."

But the focus of beauty has to be in verse 51 and the question Jesus asks the blind beggar, "What do you want me to do for you?" Suppose – suppose now Jesus is walking from the door, down the center aisle, and he turns into the pew where you are seated and he stops right in front of you and he asks "What do you want me to do for you?" What would you answer? Would you answer? Or would you be a quiet bystander, no hand raised. Or, would you raise your hand and then say, "Oh, I forgot." Some of us would have some questions because, you see, we would say Jesus, if he’s God, already knows what I need. He didn’t have to ask Bartimaeus the information. Jesus already knew what Bartimaeus needed. Then why did he ask him the question? Many of us puzzle over this one.

Turn over to Matthew – it’s a few pages back. Matthew the sixth chapter. This is the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus is talking about prayer, which begins in verse five of Matthew 6, you get on down to verse seven where he warns against lots of words and babbling and then in verse eight he says "Don’t be like those people, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." But now turn over to Matthew 7, still the Sermon on the Mount, still Jesus speaking, when he says in verse seven of chapter seven, "Ask and it shall be given to you." Verse eight says, "For everyone who asks, receives." I ask you this, friend, why -- if the Father in Heaven already knows what we need – why do we need to ask? It’s a good question, if all we are dealing with here is information. But if you are interested in warm relationships – intimacy, depth, knowing who you really are and what you are here for – asking is part of the package. It’s a dimension of personal growth. You see, for one thing not to ask brings a sense of disappointment.

My father, when he used to visit us, loved to wear my ties. I thought that was nice. As a matter of fact, I was honored by the fact. But after he left I always found those ties missing. And sure enough when we visited them, my ties were either around his neck or in the closet. And sometimes I would think silently, "Dad, I would gladly have given them to you but why didn’t you ask? Dad, do you realize that you have robbed me of the immense joy of giving them to you, but you didn’t ask." When the boys were little, we had a wonderful woman who helped us. She loved the children. She loved us, she worked hard and in appreciation we assisted her many ways, especially during a time of illness. One day, Shirley was driving by her home and out on the clothesline were towels and dishcloths we had been missing. How strange! We would have given her every towel in the house if she had asked. We would have said to ourselves, "She has so little, and we have so much. Take them. Let us give them to you." But somehow there was disappointment in it all. Same towels, difference in response.

Now, friend, don’t you think God has something of this same response when we take and we take and we take and we take, and we never ask! It is as if he is simply up there doling it out. Now if God has personal dimensions and is a personal spirit, he responds in personal ways. Have you asked him? Or have you robbed God of the great joy of giving? Listen to Jesus as he reveals the heart of God. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, would give him a stone. Or if he asks for fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Do we get what we want?

There are two ways to do it. One is to take, and the other is to ask. To simply be a taker is to rob the giver of the joy in the giving. So if the Lord Jesus came to you this Christmas personally and stood before you right now and looked you full in the face with a smile on his and said, "What do you want me to do for you?" What would your answer be? Have you even thought about it? Would not this Christmas season be a wonderful time to answer that question? Maybe another way in which the Lord has trouble with us is when it comes to our habits in our culture. For you see we have one habit, which basically says, "We want answers quick; we want them easy." Computers get faster; but these are information answers. And I like what Joan Poole says when she says, "When you get past the giving and taking of information, nothing worth knowing reveals its secrets easily."

There’s another habit we have and it’s called wish and get society. It parades itself at Christmas. We wish for and ask and we get it – snap! With God, there are two problems with that. One is sometimes what we want could be the worst possible thing that we could get. But there’s another one. Suppose God is going to give us what we ask for but in his way, in his time. Molded into the timing he knows of your spirit and of your life. This much I know, the Lord comes to us this day and will take us by the hand and ask, "What do you want me to do for you?"

It was Thanksgiving and a first grade teacher was asking her class to draw something they were thankful for. And they went to work at once, crayons in hands – pictures beginning to shape. She looked at this class of children, most of them from poor, poor families; some of them from dysfunctional families. Some mornings she could tell that things had just been awful the night before because the children could just not stay awake. The children finished their Thanksgiving pictures and brought their pictures up to the teacher. She showed them to the class and each one made comments. All of them were kind of predictable – there were turkeys and there was a Thanksgiving table – but one was different. It was child drawing an adult hand. The teacher said, "What do you think of this?" It was kind of abstract looking. And one said, "I think it’s God – it’s the hand of God. He’s the one who gives food." And another one says, "It’s a farmer – he’s the one that gives us all that stuff." After the class went back to work, the teacher slipped back and asked the little boy, Douglas, "Whose hand did you draw?" And he looked and mumbled, "It’s yours." And the teacher thought of the many times she had taken his hand and walked him out to the playground at recess to be with the other children and to learn how to get along with them, and to build up his confidence. It was the one hand he had that he could trust.

The Lord Jesus comes to you right now with his hand and he asks, "What do you want me to do for you?" What is your answer?

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