Then Jesus answered him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” Mark 10:51
What can I do for you? It seemed like an odd question but really it wasn’t. The other day I was at the doctor’s office accompanied by my wife Judy. The wait in the waiting room was very short and as always, the first stop was the stupid scale. You can tell this is not my favorite part of any doctor visit but regardless it is part of the deal. After making me face my weight, she took us back to the screening room where she asked questions, and I gave answers. She did a great job and soon we were waiting for the doctor to come in.
The wait wasn’t too long and when he came in, I could sense he was a good guy. This visit was to begin to hopefully write the final chapter about my pancreas and an abnormally high-test result. He was a specialist dealing with all the various parts of the human digestive system so I was a little surprised when he asked, “Now, what can I do for you?” See what I mean about seeming a bit odd. You are a doctor, and I am a patient…either tell me I’m not broke or fix me. But I wasn’t perturbed by his question…in fact, I was pleased. He wanted to know how things looked and felt from my perspective and I valued that.
Well, we had a great conversation and like our nurse friend, he asked a lot of questions, and I gave him a lot of answers. After a while, he made several suggestions concerning a few more tests to make sure that things were good and, in the end, I felt like he cared and that he understood my need. And, get this, it all started with that odd question, “What can I do for you.”
There’s a story in the Bible with the same question and it might seem crazy too. A blind guy is sitting by the road, and he hears Jesus coming by. He begins to holler asking Jesus to stop and heal him. Jesus calls for him and members of the crowd lead him to the Healer and that is when Jesus asks the question, “What do you want me to do for you?” It might seem obvious since obviously the guy is blind, but Jesus wanted him to acknowledge his need. After all, he might have wanted a new walking stick or seeing eye donkey. No, Jesus wanted the man to say it, express it—I want to see. So, the guy says exactly that, Jesus heals the guy and well, it was a pretty happy ending.
Sometimes asking the right question is important…very important. Jesus was the master of everything He did and that included asking the right question. I wonder if that is something we need to learn to do better. I wonder if it would help us help others. I am sure it would. I sometimes have the tendency to start talking when I should have continued listening. Our interactions with people—husbands, wives, kids, friends, even strangers are more important than we realize. You can bet that God is great at this. Go ahead, have a conversation, ask a question. He will surely want to know what you really need, and then He’ll let you know…He’s got this. Bro. Dewayne
Read more from our blog: Grits with Grace – short stories with big truths
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