What do you want me to do for you?

Gospel Reflection

As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,

Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,

sat by the roadside begging.

On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,

he began to cry out and say,

"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."

And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.

But he kept calling out all the more,

"Son of David, have pity on me."

Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."

So they called the blind man, saying to him,

"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."

He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"

The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."

Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."

Immediately he received his sight

and followed him on the way.

Mark 10:46-52

What do you want me to do for you? 

Our readings today reminds us that we should not be afraid, we should not be ashamed to bring our concerns to God, rather we should disturb God, longing for us to see, longing for salvation. 

In our first reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah, we are reminded that God is our Father, and wherever we are in our journey he is with us. 

Those of us who have been blinded by the treasures of this world, crippled by the deceit of this world, will be guided by Him on our journey back to Him. He will not leave us, but he will let us drink in the spring of life, for us to be refreshed and be assured that he will indeed provide for us. 

And this Jesus allowed the blind man Bartimaeus to experience, when he asked him, what do you want me to do for you? 

The blind man, Bartimaeus, who was persistent on calling for God's mercy because he had faith in the Word, he had faith in Christ, and this despite people telling him to be silent. The people around him do not want him to disturb Christ. 

Sometimes we can be these people around Bartimaeus who feels that we should be silent and should not disturb God with the concerns of our poor brothers and sisters in need. 

Be silent even with all the evil that we are seeing around us, the corrupt officials who take advantage of our misery in order for them to enrich themselves, the killings, the distortion of history in order to cover up the abuses of the past. 

And most of the time we are like Bartimaeus - wanting, hoping to truly see, but we need faith, we need to hold on to the promise of Jesus that salvation is ours for He is our God and we are his children. 

A friend who was stricken with polio told me that he was teenager when he was struck with polio. His limbs were deformed, and at a very young age, he felt so different and was so embarrassed with himself. He did not want to go out and be seen, and when he sees people talking, he feels that they were talking about him. 

One day, accompanying his grandmother to the church, he stayed at the back of the church because he was so embarrassed to really be seen. But he was seen and the priest decided to sit beside him and to  talk to him. He encouraged him to join the youth group and even to lead the group. 

The gesture of the priest healed him, and made him realize that he is not deformed, that he can be who he wants to be. 

That experience allowed him to take control of his life and eventually he became a manager of a resort. 

It is in our experience of God that we are given the strength to see and to speak, to ask God for what it is that we truly need. 

God only wants the best for us and he sees the best in us. We may not see it, others may not see it, but he sees it and he wants us to see it. He desires that we be healed from our blindness and see that we are beautifully created by Him. 

Have faith in Him, and when the time would come for him to ask you: "What do you want me to do for you?", you can truly tell him what it is that would truly allow you to experience his salvation and he will tell you: "Go your way, your faith has saved you."

Image: Ananya Bilimale | Unsplash