Day 20 of my 28 day #DailyMatthew journey.
As I read Matthew 20, my initial thought was to talk about the upside down kingdom that Jesus was describing. The last will be first, Jesus came to serve rather than be served, etc. But that is not what I am going to write about.
Instead, as I read to the end of the chapter, I was struck by Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?”. I have read that question a hundred times and I’ve taught about the text in classes and on Sunday morning. You think I’d be used to the question by now, but it still grabs me each time.
Why? Because Jesus didn’t ask the question for himself, he asked it for the blind men. Jesus’ question was not spoken because he didn’t know what the answer would be (I’m sure the whole crowd knew what the answer would be!), but rather, I think he asked the question so that the blind men could speak their need to him.
There is something significant about asking for help, isn’t there. Not just generic help, but specific help. The blind me were specific, but they were not naive. They knew that Jesus had healed people before, and they wanted Jesus to heal them too. Notice, though, that they fully understood who Jesus was. “Son of David” was a messianic title that shows that the men may have been physically blind, but they were not spiritually blind.
Hmm … what relevance might this miraculous event have today? I think that anyone who has ever taught about this text in just about any context (including me!) has asked this question: If Jesus were to walk up to you today and ask “What do you want me to do for you?”, what would you say?
What would you ask for yourself? What would you ask for others? What would you ask for in terms of the mission of God?
I invite you to take a few minutes, right now and with a prayerful attitude, tell Jesus your answer to his question.
Mark
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