A detail worth noticing
Why Jesus Asked, What Do You Want
A blind beggar cries out for mercy, and Jesus stops and asks him a question that seems almost unnecessary: What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The man is obviously blind. Why ask what he wants?
“And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.”Mark 10:51
The detail
The detail. In Mark 10:46-52, blind Bartimaeus sits begging by the road near Jericho, and hearing that Jesus passes by he cries out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. The crowd tries to silence him, but he cries the more. Jesus stands still, calls him, and when the man comes, asks in Mark 10:51, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man answers, Lord, that I might receive my sight. On the surface the question is strange: the need seems plain to everyone. A blind man calling for mercy surely wants to see. Yet Jesus does not assume; he asks. The detail easy to overlook is that the Lord who knows all things still invites Bartimaeus to name his own desire out loud, and only then says, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight (Mark 10:52).
Why it may matter
Why it may matter. The text does not stop to explain why Jesus asks a question whose answer seems obvious, so any account of his motive is interpretation. One careful suggestion, well supported by how Jesus deals with people, is that the question honors Bartimaeus as a person rather than a problem. The crowd had treated him as a nuisance to be hushed; Jesus treats him as a man with a will, worth asking, worth hearing. To be invited to say what you want, rather than to have it presumed, is itself a kind of dignity. A second suggestion is that naming the desire is an act of faith made visible: Bartimaeus must move from a general cry for mercy to a specific, hopeful request, that I might receive my sight, and Jesus links the healing to that faith. These readings fit the scene, though the Gospel leaves the reason unstated. It is worth noticing that Jesus asks this exact question, What wilt thou that I should do, of James and John only verses earlier in Mark 10:36, and there the request is for glory. The same question exposes the heart: what a person truly wants of Christ tells you much about them.
What it shows of Christ
What it shows of Christ. Jesus stands still for one shouting beggar while a crowd streams toward Jerusalem. He does not heal Bartimaeus from a distance or over his head; he calls him near and speaks to him as a man with desires that matter. In asking, he refuses to reduce a person to his affliction. This is the tenderness of Christ, who could have simply restored the sight but chose first to listen. And when the answer comes, he grants it fully and at once, giving not only sight but commendation, thy faith hath made thee whole. The Lord who asks what we want is not ignorant of our need; he is inviting us into relationship, drawing out trust, treating the lowest and loudest of the roadside as worth his full attention. He is the Son of David who has mercy, and who dignifies the one he heals.
Questions people ask
Why did Jesus ask a blind man what he wanted?
The text does not say directly. A careful reading is that the question dignifies Bartimaeus as a person rather than a problem, and invites him to voice his faith in a specific request, which Jesus then honors.
Does Jesus ask this question elsewhere?
Yes. In Mark 10:36, just before, he asks James and John the same question, What would ye that I should do for you. Their answer seeks glory, while Bartimaeus seeks mercy, so the same question reveals very different hearts.
What was Bartimaeus's response?
He said, Lord, that I might receive my sight (Mark 10:51). Jesus healed him at once and said his faith had made him whole, and Bartimaeus then followed Jesus in the way.