Mark 10:51,52 – So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.
Obviously Jesus knew exactly what this man wanted and needed. Why did He ask? Why did He want to hear the man say it? I think it had something to do with the Lord wanting this man to express his faith. This seems be be what Jesus always wanted. Think about other requests Jesus made to hurting people; pick up your pallet and go home, stretch out your hand, go wash yourself in the Pool of Siloam, roll away the stone, and to the lepers go show yourself to the priest. This seems to be always at the bottom of everything Jesus did. He wanted us to come to gripes with our absolute dependency on Him and then He wanted us to express that dependency. Specific prayer brings our situation into focus. Look how Barclay describes this.
“He knew precisely what he wanted – his sight. Too often our admiration for Jesus is a vague attraction. When we go to the doctor it is to have something specific dealt with. When we go to the dentist we do not ask to have any tooth extracted, but the one that is diseased. It should be so with us and Jesus. And that involves the one thing that so few people wish to face – self-examination. When we go to Jesus, if we are as desperately definite as Bartimaeus, things will happen.”
So maybe the Lord is trying to put you in some sort of situation so that you will express your dependency and faith in Him. What does that look like in your world? It could be as simple as responding to an altar call. That was part of what He was doing in Bartimaeus’ case. Remember what He said? He is calling for you. Maybe He is actually calling for you today. It could be Him calling you to a deeper place of worship and He is looking for your response. He could be looking to bring supernatural provision your way and He is calling for a seed. So when Bartimaeus got his miracle that wasn’t the conclusion but the beginning. This is what Jesus was really after; Bartimaeus come and follow Me to a brand new life.
