John 9:13-34 – An invitation to see Christ more clearly

These twenty-two verses described for us three absurd interrogations. First the Pharisees hauled in the healed blind man and interrogated him. They quickly realized that he was healed on a Sabbath. In their eyes, Jesus was deemed to have broken the Sabbath on two counts. Firstly, He healed the blind man on a Sabbath and secondly, He made clay patty on a Sabbath. One of their traditions prescribed that when one spits on the floor on a Sabbath, he must make sure it must land on something solid and not cause dust to become a lump. For when that happens, it would constitute work. And that would have deemed to have broken the Sabbath. Their conclusion, since Jesus healed on a Sabbath with such a method, He could not be from God. How ridiculous! However, the more thinking ones among them asked, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” So there had divided opinions. Turning to the healed blind man they asked him for his own opinion. His conclusion was that Jesus was a prophet.

The second interrogation was with the blind man’s parents. They thought they could uncover a discrepancy to indict Jesus. But the terrified parents refused to be involved. All they would say was, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹ but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” John tells us that they were afraid of being implicated and ostracized. The Jews had warned that anyone confessing Jesus as the Christ would be ex-communicated from their assembly. So the parents told their interrogators to check with their son who was of age to speak for himself. Through what happened here, we are reminded to put our trust in the Lord and not to fear man. Proverbs 29:25 echoes this to us. “The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.”

The healed blind man was recalled for one final interrogation. The response of this uneducated and ignorant beggar completely turned the tables on those interrogators. Using the name of God, they tried to induce him to affirm with them that Jesus was a sinner. The man’s response was a classic one. He refused to be drawn into their discussion. All he could say was that what he had experienced was a genuine one. He vehemently insisted that he was once blind, but having encountered Jesus, he now could see. He then asked why they were so concerned with how and who healed Him. He inquired if they wanted to be Jesus’ disciples too. At this, they took great offence. 

They responded with pride, insisting that they were Moses’ disciples. The man cleverly retorted them in verses 30-33 saying, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” At that reply, the Pharisees felt insulted, that he, an ignorant uneducated beggar, should try to teach them, learned teachers. So they put him out of the assembly. 

In this account, we see the progression of this healed man’s conclusion. In John 9:11, he first said of his Benefactor as “a man that is called Jesus”. Then in John 9:17, he saw Him as a prophet. And finally He saw Jesus as a man of God. What a glorious experience! It teaches us that when we walk in the light of God’s revelation, He revealed more of Himself to us. If we are not seeing Jesus more and more clearly, could it be that we are not walking in the light that He had already given us concerning Himself? Let us diligently walk in the light of the revelation we have already received. And let us be found faithful and true to all that had already been given to us.