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The Question

By Guy K. Henry

www.GuyHenry.com

It was early in the morning, and the city of Jericho was waking up.

The beggar felt his way through the busy marketplace on his daily trek to his spot against the wall. The sound of a donkey’s hooves hitting the road filled his ears. “Klomp, Klomp, Klomp.”

Then the wheels of the cart behind the donkey ground the grit on the road. “Pop, Snap, Pop, Pop.”

The beggar found the wall and pulled his coin bowl out of his pocket. He set himself up for a busy day of begging for food money.

Soon he heard the “Sniff, Sniff,” of a dog’s nose. He felt the animal’s wet tongue as it slapped against his bare knee. The beggar lifted his cupped hand and the dog slid his head under it. “Good boy,” he whispered as he rubbed behind the dog’s ears.

In the background was a murmur of voices and clapping of sandals as people moved in and out of the marketplace.

Many people saw the beggar propped against the wall with his hand stretched out. However, the beggar saw nothing for since his childhood his eyes had been nothing more than decorative. He was blind. His world was a dark one. The man had forgotten what colors and lights were. Many people assumed he was helpless, but he was not. His ears and nose told him a great deal about the space around him.

This day felt different. To the blind man it seemed that many more people were passing through the marketplace. Judging from their accents, many of them were not from Jericho.

The poor man liked busy days because they were good for the begging business. He was disappointed after a while when he shook his coin bowl and heard only two small coins banging against each other. “Big crowds,” he thought, “and no money. What is going on?”

He sat for a while and tried to figure out what all the activity was about. The crowd sounded more like a parade than a bunch of shoppers. Finally, in his confusion he called out, “Can anyone tell me what is going on today?”

Without slowing down, a young man turned and answered, “We have come to Jericho to see Jesus from Nazareth.”

“Thank you,” the blind man said unaware that the young man had already walked away.

“Jesus from Nazareth,” he muttered to himself. “Where have I heard that name before?”

It took him some time, but then he remembered. He had overheard some men excitedly talking of Jesus at the temple. “He is not just Jesus from Nazareth,” he said out loud, “He is Jesus, Son of David, The promised Savior! God’s Son, sent to earth to save His people!”

 The blind beggar knew at once that he absolutely had to meet with Jesus. He stashed his coin bowl back into his pocket and stood up. He drew in his deepest breath and cried out into the crowd, “JESUS! SON OF DAVID! THE PROMISED ONE! HAVE MERCY ON ME! I NEED YOU!”

“You need to calm down,” sneered a passing man.

The beggar did not stop, “JESUS! MESSIAH! SAVIOR! TAKE AWAY MY SINS!”

“Be quiet beggar,” scowled a woman.

The blind beggar got louder, “JESUS! MY LORD AND KING! PLEASE SEE ME!”

“Don’t bother the teacher,” a teenager warned.

“JESUS! JESUS! JESUS!” he shouted.

“You are making a scene,” growled another traveler. Then he looked at the ragged blind man and cruelly said, “Jesus doesn’t have time to see you.”

By this time, tears were streaming down the beggar’s cheek. “JESUS! JESUS! HEAR ME! I NEED TO SEE YOU!”

Jesus had heard every one of the blind man’s cries. Without warning, he stopped in the middle of the street and turned towards the sound of the desperate man. He lifted his arm and pointed at the crying man. “Go, get that man and bring him to me,” Jesus commanded.

Two of his disciples scampered through the crowd. They came to the man and said, “Jesus wants to see you. Come with us.” They led the beggar to where Jesus was standing. The crowd parted and grew quiet as he stood before Jesus.

Jesus looked upon the blind man with love and spoke. “What would you have me do for you?” he asked.

The beggar wiped his cheek and swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure how to answer Jesus. He wondered if he should ask Jesus for money. “No,” he decided. He would ask for something much bigger.

His mouth opened and he sobbed, "Master, I want to see again!"

Jesus smiled and warmly told the trembling man, “Blind man, Receive your sight!”

The crowd watched in silent amazement.

Immediately the blind man felt something happening. He had not seen light since he was a little boy. Even so, he recognized the speck in front of him as a bright light. At the same time vivid colors appeared before him. Soon he saw shapes as his healed eyes began to focus. As his new vision became clear, the first sight he recognized was Jesus’ smiling face and especially His loving eyes.

The healed man struggled to catch his breath and his knees became weak.

Jesus was not finished. The Son of God peered deeper into the healed man than anyone else ever had. He knew that this man had placed all his trust in Him. He saw that this precious man trusted him for much more than his sight. Jesus spoke one more time, “Your faith has saved you.”

His joy soared even higher than when his eyesight returned when he felt the weight of his lifetime of disobedience lifted away by the words of Jesus.

When Jesus met this shabby man, He asked him a very curious question. In Luke 18:41 Jesus inquires, “What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?”

Wasn’t it obvious? The man was blind! Why did Jesus even have to ask what he wanted?

I believe that Jesus desired to hear the beggar’s answer. Would the sick man only have enough faith to ask for something ordinary, like money? Would he just ask Him for a blessing? Or, would he have the faith to ask Jesus for something impossible? Did he trust Jesus enough to ask Him for something that could not be found in this world?

I am so glad that he did. He trusted Jesus for two ‘out-of-this-world’ miracles. Jesus is in the business of doing the ‘impossible things’. Because of the man’s faith, his sight was restored and his sin was taken away from him.

Did you know that Jesus asks us the very same question? When we meet Him, Jesus asks, “What would you have me do for you?”

Sadly, many answer with requests for the ordinary. Some settle for a fuzzy feeling. They ask for Jesus’ friendship, or for a blessing. The truth is that many are very content with sin. On a daily basis, sin works out well for them. It seems to get them out of trouble and often it even feels good.

The faith that Jesus looks for is able to ask for the impossible. He waits for us to cry out to Him in faith something like, “Jesus, I can’t do a thing about my sin, except add even more sins to it. I know sin separates God from me. Jesus, I trust you to do what I could never do and take away my sin!” Jesus responds with the amazing miracle of forgiveness and immediately takes our sin with Him to the cross.

From that day on, we are promised to live forever in heaven. Imagine that, a face-to-face relationship with God, the way God designed life before sin arrived!

Now that we have so much to look forward to, should we stop asking for impossible things? Should we allow the glow of salvation to wear off and return to our ‘normal’ life? Often that is exactly what happens.

There is no reason to think that is what God desires. Let’s continue to ask for the impossible. Lets pray boldly and in faith. Oswald Chambers wrote in My Utmost For His Highest, “The most impossible thing to you is that you should be so identified with the Lord that there is nothing of the old life left. He will do it if you ask Him.” Now that is a bold, even dangerous prayer.

Luke 18:40-43, “And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, (41)  Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. (42)  And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.(43)  And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.”

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