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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Cyril of Alexandria
The voice of one invoking in faith stops Christ, for He looks back upon them who call upon Him in faith. And accordingly He calls the blind man to Him, and bids him draw nigh, that he in truth who had first laid hold on Him in faith, might approach Him also in the body. The Lord asks this blind man as he drew near, What will thou that I shall do? He asks the question purposely, not as ignorant, but that those who stood by might know that he sought not money, but divine power from God. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Therefore Jesus also calls him to Himself, as one truly worthy of drawing near to Him, and asks him: "What do you want from Me?" He asks not because He does not know, but so that it would not seem to those present that the man asks for one thing while He gives another: that the man, for example, asks for money, while He, wishing to display Himself, heals his blindness. For envy can slander even in such a senseless manner. Therefore the Lord asked, and when He revealed that he wished to receive his sight, He grants him his sight.
Western Saints
Gregory the Dialogist
As long as we still suffer our manifold fancies to trouble us in our prayers, we feel in some measure Jesus passing by. But when we are very stedfast in prayer, God is fixed in our heart, and the lost light is restored. Or to pass by is of man, to stand is of God. The Lord then passing by heard the blind man crying, standing still restored him to sight, for by His humanity in compassion to our blindness He has pity upon our cries, by the power of His divinity He pours upon us the light of His grace.
Bede
But Jesus, standing still, ordered him to be brought to him. Behold, he stands who previously was passing by, because when we still suffer the crowds of phantasms in prayer, we feel Jesus in some way passing by. But when we fervently persist in prayer, Jesus stands still and restores the light, because God is fixed in the heart, and the lost light is restored.
Bonaventure
Third, as regards the generosity of the healer, it is added: But Jesus, standing still, commanded him to be brought to himself. Now Jesus is said to stand, because he is in himself immutable: Psalm: "But you are the selfsame, and your years shall not fail"; whence the Gloss: "Jesus passing by hears the blind man, standing still he illuminates him, because through his humanity he has compassion on the cries of our blindness, but by the power of his Divinity he pours into us the light of his grace." And although through prayer we may …
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