Google “If-a-genie-grants-you-three-wishes-what-do-you-intend-to-wish-for” and you get varied responses. There are the ones you’d expect: Good health, Lots of Money. Someone to love me. There are some altruistic ones: World peace. Equal opportunity for everyone. Eliminate global warming. There are some personal ones: My girl friend will marry me. I’ll be six feet tall. I’ll get a job as a gamer. Some wishes were topical – wishing for an end to the pandemic. Others were more cosmic – being able to see the universe from the outside. Lots of answers try to game the system by making one of their wishes: Give me unlimited wishes. When the Genii explains that he can only grant three wishes they ask for their third wish that another genii would come. Pretty clever. Of course asking for what we wish is something that we do all the time even without a genii being present. A child asks for a pony. No pony. A dog. No. A cat. No. How about a goldfish? A student might wish that they had more time because they can never get everything done. We might wish for a cure for cancer. Or for the family to be more accepting. Or on a more mundane level, we wish for six good numbers. If we only had a genii that could come and grant our wishes!
Which leads to the gospel today – Bartimaeus must have thought he hit the lottery for someone better than a genii was here. Right in his subway platform, on State and Adams, was Jesus of Nazareth, the son of David, the one he heard could grant wishes. So he makes a scene – see me, notice me, recognize me. People try to hush him, to push him off in the corner. You don’t want your beggars to be seen in the nice parts of town. You hide your homeless so the good people don’t have to think about them. But Bartimaeus was not to be denied and Jesus does turn his attention to him. “Take courage. You did it. You won. You got this.” So he takes his chance. This is where the story gets interesting. Jesus engages Bartimaeus in a conversation, in a dialogue. Notice how it’s worded: What do YOU want ME to do for you? This is personal. No generic requests like “that all my family will be happy.” This is between Jesus and Bartimaeus. What Bartimaeus wanted might have seemed obvious but Jesus wanted him to understand that the gift he was given came from the relationship what was building between them.
Maybe we can take this encounter as a model for our prayer. We too are blind – blind to God’s presence in the world; blind to our own worth and dignity as a child of God; blind to the precious nature of every single individual we meet in life. We, like Bartimaeus, know our need, cry out for help. The help that comes flows out of a relationship, a connection between ourselves and Jesus. Let’s hear Jesus say to us “what do YOU want ME to do for you.” In that question lies an invitation to intimacy, to closeness, to connection with the one who can fill up the hole in our soul. What can you do for us, Lord?
You can walk with us. There’s a great deal that is frightening in the world today. The pandemic, violence in the city, political instability. There are threats to our family, our community, our neighborhood. The future can intimidate us with its uncertainty. And we can even become afraid of you, Lord, because we don’t know what you might ask of us. But we hear in the scriptures, “You have nothing whatever to fear from him.” So what you can do for us is walk by our side through thick and through thicker. Because I know if you with me there is nothing we cannot face together.
You can weep with us when we are weeping. Tears spring so easily to our eyes anymore. We have our griefs which keep accumulating — loved ones taken from us that we miss more than words can say. Our sorrows are aplenty. Our frail worn-out bodies, for example, sometimes bring us to tears as we face diminishment and suffering. And besides all that we sometimes cry because we feel so alone, so misunderstood, so hurt, so abused, so neglected. We don’t even need occasion for a sob to escape us. We just feel sad. But your prophet said, “They departed in tears, but I will console them and guide them.” So Jesus, what you can do for us is weep with those who weep. If we feel your tears mingle with our own we’ll feel that grace and consolation.
You can help us make good choice. The epistles says you are still “taken from among men and made their representative.” Since you share the human condition with us you understand that often the will of God for us is clouded. How are we supposed to use this precious gift of time that you have given us? Who are the people that we are called to serve? What are the gifts we possess for the building up of your kingdom on earth? When is it appropriate to speak and when is it time to be silent? We say our prayers every day hoping to hear the answer to these questions. Because you know us and know what we are going through, point out the right path for us. Your companionship and example will help us find the way.
What do YOU want ME to do for you? You can love us. Lord, love us. Love us in our fears and our doubts. Love us in our sorrows and griefs. Love us in our tears and confusion. Love us, Lord, just as we are. For when you do then all things become possible. Because you love us we know that we are lovable. Because you love us we can see the face of God in one another. Because you love us all will be well, all manner of things will be well. What you can do for us, Jesus, is hold on to us and never let go.