What do you want me to do for you? Mark 10:51

In high school, I played a lot of basketball. I wanted to be really good so I put in the time. There was a player on my team who was one year older than me and I looked up to him. Once he told me that he wore two pairs of socks on each foot for games. From then on I wore two pairs of socks on each foot because that’s what he did. One day after basketball practice I challenged him to a 1 on 1 competition. He was 4 inches taller than me, weighed about 30lb heavier, and was quicker than me. In all measurable aspects of basketball, he was superior. Yet I wanted to play him. We played for 30 minutes. I made a few points on him but for every basket I made he made 4. He asked me why I wanted to play 1 on 1 with him when he was beating me so badly. I told him “I want to learn”. That 1 on 1 experience taught me a lot. In that 1 on 1 I could focus on my opponent and focus on what I was doing. This same principle applies to our relationships and even our relationship with Jesus. The Bible is filled with examples of Christ meeting with people 1 on 1 and every time He meets with them they are changed. Do you want to be changed? Let’s explore what a  1 on 1 relationship with Jesus can do. 

When Jesus meets with us 1 on 1 we can focus on him, not as an opponent, but as a companion. Sometimes we are hesitant to come to Jesus by ourselves out of fear that he will focus on us so much that he will find all our faults. But I think that’s the point. Let’s look at Mark 10:46-52 to discover more about what it means for us to have a 1 on 1 with Jesus.

The story of Mark 10:46-52 is about a man named Bartimaeus, a man who is blind. We find Bartimaeus sitting on the side of the road in Jericho. Jesus is being followed by a crowd as he often is. As He is passing by where Bartimaeus is sitting begging Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus saying “Jesus, Son of David, have Mercy on me!” Bartimeaus or Barty for short, is crying out into the darkness of his world hoping to catch the attention of the Savior. 

The crowd hears Barty but they try to silence him. Barty yells even more and this time Jesus hears him. In Jewish society having a disability like this was often considered a curse from God. The blind, crippled, and perpetually sick among many other disabilities and illnesses were often outcasts in their society. Barty knows this yet he sees an opportunity for something great to happen in his life. 

As Jesus hears Barty he replies to him with a simple question. “What do you want me to do for you?” (verse 51) Notice how Jesus does not assume what Barty wants. Jesus does not define the person by their problem or errors. Jesus could have easily guessed what Barty wanted. But by doing so he would have been defining Barty by his problems, by his disability, by his brokenness. Our fear that Christ will highlight our brokenness is ill-founded. You see Christ will see our brokenness He will notice the things we have done wrong however He will not define us by them, just like He did not define Barty by his blindness.

When Jesus came to Barty he focused on the person not the broken. When Jesus comes to us he is not concerned about the broken in the same way we are. As humans, we are so often constrained by our own thinking and self-image. We define ourselves by the mistakes we have made but Jesus sees the person. The faults that we so often define ourselves by are not what Jesus sees instead he sees a person looking for something so much more. 

Jesus asked Barty a simple question and Barty responded with a simple answer. “I want to see.” Jesus is asking the same question to you and me today. Will you be honest with Him as Barty was? Jesus can handle whatever it is you present to Him. Can you be prepared for the change like Barty was? When Barty was healed Jesus told him to “Go” and Barty went. Mark 10:52 tells us that “Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.” 

The change Jesus is offering through a 1 on 1 with him will confront the deepest and darkest things in our lives. But through this 1 on 1 with Him, our whole world will be flipped upside down and we can begin to journey with Him in new life.