Key Thought

"What do you want me to do?" It sounds like a simple, almost ridiculous question. But in asking it, Jesus is giving the men who are blind the opportunity to do two things: (1) state the absurdity of their request so they know when it happens they have received a true miracle from Jesus and (2) have them ask for the help they need rather than relying on themselves. Sometimes we are presumptuous in assuming what we think those we're trying to help need. Jesus wanted the people to gain faith in him through the miracle and not just focus on the miracle. He wanted to get them in the discipline of asking God for what they need. Maybe that's a question we need to ask ourselves: What do I want Jesus to truly do?

Today's Prayer

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Holy Father, I need your help. I need your help for a number of specific things I want to bring before you right now .... Thank you for hearing my prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

Jesus was going to Jerusalem. His twelve followers were with him. While they were walking, Jesus gathered the followers together and spoke to them privately. Jesus said to them, "We are going to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be given to the leading priests and the teachers of the law. The priests and teachers of the law will say that the Son of Man must die. They will give the Son of Man to the non-Jewish people. Those people will laugh at him and beat him with whips, and then they will kill him on a cross. But on the third day after his death, he will be raised to life again." Then Zebedee's wife came to Jesus. Her sons were with her. The mother bowed before Jesus and asked him to do something for her. Jesus said, "What do you want?" She said, "Promise that one of my sons will sit at your right side in your kingdom. And promise that the other son will sit at your left side in your kingdom." So Jesus said to the sons, "You don't understand what you are asking. Can you accept the kind of suffering that I must have ?" The sons answered, "Yes, we can!" Jesus said to them, "Truly you will suffer the same things that I will suffer. But I cannot choose the person that will sit at my right side or my left side. My Father has decided who will have those places. He has prepared those places for those people. Those places belong to them." The other ten followers heard this. They became angry with the two brothers.

— Matthew 20:17-24 (ERV)

Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. All rights reserved.