What Do You Want Jesus to Do for You?

Introduction

There are days when words fail us. A loved one passes away, a trial settles in, a prayer seems to go unanswered, and we find ourselves, like a child, no longer knowing what to do with our cry. Scripture doesn't ask us to silence that cry. Instead, it shows us a man who let it out with all his strength on the side of a road, and a Jesus who stopped for him.

That man is the blind beggar of Jericho (Luke 18:35-43; parallel account in Mark 10:46-52, where he's named Bartimaeus). His short scene, almost ordinary in the middle of the crowd, holds a question Jesus still asks each of us today: "What do you want me to do for you?"

This Sunday, in our church, we entrusted to the Lord a beloved brother, Mamoru Komatsubara, called home to the Father after several years fighting illness. His mother, herself grieving her husband just months earlier, reaffirmed her faith before us: "One day, I too will join you. But as long as Jesus keeps me here, I keep going with him." It's in that atmosphere that Jesus's question takes on its full weight.

Outline

1. A cry that refuses to be silenced

"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Luke 18:38). Sitting on the roadside, the blind man hears that Jesus is passing by. He doesn't understand everything, but he knows one thing: it's now or never. Around him, the crowd rebukes him, tells him to be quiet. He cries out even louder. He refuses to let his suffering become an invisible backdrop that everyone walks around.

Before God, you don't have to pretend. If you're angry, tell him your anger. If you're hurt, tell him your wound. If you don't understand, tell him you don't understand. The Lord isn't offended by an honest cry, he stops to listen to it.

2. A question that sets you back on your feet

"What do you want me to do for you?" (Luke 18:41). This question is surprising. Jesus can clearly see that the man is blind. And yet he invites him to voice his own request. Why? Because this man isn't a file to be processed, but a person to be listened to. Jesus takes the time to look at him as someone with a voice, a desire, a story.

He asks us the same question. Not because he wouldn't know what we're going through, but because he wants us to dare to say it. What do you want, today? For the pain to stop? For someone to hold on? For your faith not to go out? Say it. Name it. He's listening.

3. A friend closer than a servant

At the last supper, Jesus tells his disciples: "No longer do I call you servants... I have called you friends" (John 15:15). He adds: "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16). In other words, when you cry out to him, you aren't speaking to a distant boss who merely tolerates you. You're speaking to a friend who chose you first.

In John 14 through 16, Jesus returns three times to the subject of prayer offered in his name being heard by the Father. It isn't a magic formula. It's the promise of a friend who takes seriously what you're carrying.

4. The Spirit who prays when you have no words left

There are mornings when even praying feels out of reach. Paul experienced this and wrote about it: "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Romans 8:26). And Christ, at the Father's right hand, "is interceding for us" (Romans 8:34).

When you have no words left, Someone else speaks for you. Your silence isn't an absence of prayer, it's sometimes the truest prayer of all, carried in secret by the Spirit and by the Son.

5. Nothing can separate you from his love

The same chapter of Romans closes with this certainty: "Neither death nor life, nor angels... nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). Grief, illness, fear, the dark night of an angry heart, none of that opens a gap between you and Christ. He holds you. Even when you don't feel it.

6. The miracle, and the road after the miracle

Jesus tells the blind man, "Recover your sight; your faith has saved you" (Luke 18:42). And the text notes: "Immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God" (Luke 18:43). He doesn't go home to count his blessings, he sets out behind the one who listened to him. Every answer from God opens a path. The grace received becomes a life given.

Key Takeaways

• Your rawest cry has a place before Jesus. He doesn't silence you, he stops.
• He asks you, "What do you want me to do for you?" Dare to answer.
• You aren't a servant he merely tolerates, you're a friend he chose.
• When your words run out, the Spirit intercedes for you with groanings too deep for words.
• Nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate you from his love in Christ.

Personal Application

1. What request are you not yet daring to put into words before Jesus today?
2. Is there a cry (anger, grief, confusion) you're holding back for fear of being "poorly received" by God?
3. Who around you is like that blind man on the roadside, someone the crowd walks around and whom you could listen to this week?
4. How do you want to respond to Jesus once he has heard you? What does your life become after the miracle?
5. Take a moment of silence. Let the Spirit intercede for you, even without words.

Scripture References

• Luke 18:35-43 · The blind man of Jericho
• Mark 10:46-52 · Bartimaeus
• John 15:15-16 · "I have called you friends"
• John 14-16 · Praying in Jesus's name
• Romans 8:26-27 · The Spirit intercedes
• Romans 8:34-39 · Nothing will separate us from his love

FAQ

Can you be angry with God and still be a Christian?

Yes. Scripture is full of cries addressed to God (the Psalms, Job, Jeremiah). What wounds faith isn't honest protest, it's closing the door and no longer speaking. As long as you're crying out toward him, you're still in relationship.

How do you pray when you have no words left?

Romans 8:26 reassures us: "the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." A sigh, a silence, a hand reached out toward God, that's already a prayer. You can also lean on a written prayer (a psalm, the Lord's Prayer) until words come back to you.

Do you need a miracle to believe Jesus has heard you?

No. The blind man is healed; others aren't, in this life. But the promise of Romans 8 holds true for everyone: nothing separates you from his love. His answer might be a healing, a peace, the strength to hold on, or the assurance that one day "he will wipe away every tear." No sincere cry is ever wasted.