Joh 9:8-34 | KingComments | STEP | In the part of we don’t hear anything more about the Lord Jesus. This means that He is no longer directly, personally involved. It is however all about Him. Although He is not physically present, He is present in the work He has done. That work becomes the touchstone for everyone who comes into contact with it. His work cannot be denied. It requires consent. Whoever does not want that, must consciously deny that work. The work the Lord has done on the born blind man becomes the subject of conversation and heated discussion and finally leads to the putting out of the born blind man. In his putting out we see how the works of the Lord Jesus are rejected by the religious leaders, as was already shown in John 8 when they rejected His words . The healing of the born blind man cannot remain hidden. For those who know him, the healing is clearly perceptible. The first to notice the change are the neighbors. They cannot hide their amazement. He used to be a beggar, that is, until the moment of his healing. That is how they knew him. Now he walks freely. He no longer has to hold up his hand for alms. Others who apparently did not know him that well, see a resemblance, but nothing more. They probably passed by him many times, but never really paid attention to him. The fact that the eyes of the blind man have been opened has given him a different appearance. Eyes that lack light are dull and dead. When the light enters, it changes someone completely. The blind person has changed from a needy person, who cannot go his own way without help, into a person who knows where he is going, taking firm steps. But no matter what people say, the fact of healing is undeniable. God has ensured that there are many witnesses. Finally, the man himself speaks and says it is really him. It is the small beginning of a growing and deepening testimony that the man gives of the Lord Jesus. Growing takes place against oppression and resistance. Then people want to know how his eyes are opened. This must have happened in a wondrous way because there is no human explanation to give. The man gives a simple and clear testimony. He mentions exactly what “the man who is called Jesus” did to him and told him. Did he have to do something difficult? Not at all. “So” – a word that indicates that it is quite simple, but also very logical – he simply did what the Lord said. And here is the result: he can see again. At this moment, the Lord Jesus is no more than “the man who is called Jesus”, but we see him grow in his knowledge of Him in the course of this chapter. While the opponents try to discredit Christ, their slander causes the man to grow in his testimony of the Lord. This is the evidence of new life. People want to know Who He is Who opened his eyes. He gives an honest answer to that question. He knows what has happened to him and he testifies to that, but where the Benefactor is now, he does not know. The Lord has withdrawn and left the man to his own deliberations and his surroundings to prepare him for what is to come, allowing the man to get to know Him better. The process the man has to go through, is a process which will detach him from the religious system which leaves people blind to the glory of the Son of God.

‏ John 9:8-34

The Testimony to the Neighbors

In the part of Jn 9:8-34 we don’t hear anything more about the Lord Jesus. This means that He is no longer directly, personally involved. It is however all about Him. Although He is not physically present, He is present in the work He has done. That work becomes the touchstone for everyone who comes into contact with it. His work cannot be denied. It requires consent. Whoever does not want that, must consciously deny that work.

The work the Lord has done on the born blind man becomes the subject of conversation and heated discussion and finally leads to the putting out of the born blind man. In his putting out we see how the works of the Lord Jesus are rejected by the religious leaders, as was already shown in John 8 when they rejected His words.

The healing of the born blind man cannot remain hidden. For those who know him, the healing is clearly perceptible. The first to notice the change are the neighbors. They cannot hide their amazement. He used to be a beggar, that is, until the moment of his healing. That is how they knew him. Now he walks freely. He no longer has to hold up his hand for alms. Others who apparently did not know him that well, see a resemblance, but nothing more. They probably passed by him many times, but never really paid attention to him.

The fact that the eyes of the blind man have been opened has given him a different appearance. Eyes that lack light are dull and dead. When the light enters, it changes someone completely. The blind person has changed from a needy person, who cannot go his own way without help, into a person who knows where he is going, taking firm steps. But no matter what people say, the fact of healing is undeniable. God has ensured that there are many witnesses. Finally, the man himself speaks and says it is really him. It is the small beginning of a growing and deepening testimony that the man gives of the Lord Jesus. Growing takes place against oppression and resistance.

Then people want to know how his eyes are opened. This must have happened in a wondrous way because there is no human explanation to give. The man gives a simple and clear testimony. He mentions exactly what “the man who is called Jesus” did to him and told him. Did he have to do something difficult? Not at all. “So” – a word that indicates that it is quite simple, but also very logical – he simply did what the Lord said. And here is the result: he can see again. At this moment, the Lord Jesus is no more than “the man who is called Jesus”, but we see him grow in his knowledge of Him in the course of this chapter.

While the opponents try to discredit Christ, their slander causes the man to grow in his testimony of the Lord. This is the evidence of new life. People want to know Who He is Who opened his eyes. He gives an honest answer to that question. He knows what has happened to him and he testifies to that, but where the Benefactor is now, he does not know.

The Lord has withdrawn and left the man to his own deliberations and his surroundings to prepare him for what is to come, allowing the man to get to know Him better. The process the man has to go through, is a process which will detach him from the religious system which leaves people blind to the glory of the Son of God.

The Pharisees Question the Man

Because people don’t trust the matter, they take the man to the Pharisees. They are the religious leaders. If there is anything that reminds one of a supernatural intervention, they must be able to judge from which source that phenomenon originates.

John prepares us for the reaction of the Pharisees by mentioning that it was a Sabbath on the day that the Lord made the clay and opened the eyes of the born blind man. At the request of the Pharisees, the man again gives a simple testimony of what the Lord has done to him. It is all quite common. The wonder is great, but the actions are visible. The Lord did not perform any special acts, nor did he ask the man to perform spectacular acts. The Pharisees do not even listen to the man. They immediately and without excuse judge that “this man” is not from God. The standard of their assessment is also simple: He does not keep the Sabbath.

Men of law judge others or their work only on the basis of established rules. That is easy to handle, you can stop thinking about it. Men of law are recognizable by applying rules to others, without keeping them themselves (Mt 23:4). They shut themselves off from the grace of God that transcends the rules.

There are also Pharisees who do not go that far in their judgment. They use their common sense and notice that a sinful person cannot perform such signs. They see a sign in the healing of the born blind man. And that is what it is. Opinions about the Lord Jesus are divided, as is the case today with people who have an opinion about Him, but refuse to bow down before Him as the Son of God.

God uses their rebellion against God to make the man testify more and more clearly about Who the Lord is. They turn once again to the healed blind man and ask for his opinion about Christ. After all, his eyes are opened, so he is best able to say Who He is Who did this.

Some of the Pharisees have said of the Lord that He is “not from God” (Jn 9:16). The man confesses exactly the opposite and testifies of Him that He is a Prophet, that is, Someone Who actually is from God. After acknowledging His power in opening his eyes, the man now confesses that the Lord Jesus knows the thoughts of God. Through their enmity he will grow even further in the knowledge of the Lord.

The Parents of the Man Are Questioned

The Jews are looking for ways to deny the wonder that cannot be denied. They do not believe that the man has been blind. It must all be based on suggestion. They call the man’s parents to ask them. The Jews want to know from the parents whether it is really their son, of whom they say he was born blind. If so, they should explain how he can see now.

The man’s parents declare that it is really their son as well as that he was born blind. That should dispel all doubt about the person of the born blind man. However, the parents cannot say anything about how he sees now. Nor can they say anything about who did it. If the Jews want to know, they have to ask their son themselves. He is no longer a child, but a grown man. They are no longer responsible for him to answer questions about him. He is independent and can tell exactly what happened to him.

Of course, his parents have also heard how their son sees now and Who did that. But they do not join their son’s testimony because they are afraid of the Jews. They have heard what the Jews will do to someone who confesses the Lord as the Christ. They do not want to suffer that fate. What their son confesses, is up to him, but they do not want to be put out of the synagogue. They want to remain part of the protective, safety-giving religious system, even though it is ruled by fear.

They do sense that the Man Who healed their son is more than a human being, just as the Jews do, but do not want to acknowledge it. Therefore they resort to an excuse. They leave the responsibility to testify about the Lord Jesus with their son. If the Jews want to know, they must ask their son, who is able to speak for himself. He can make his own choice which is not their choice.

Questioning the Man Again

The healed blind man is called a second time. They want to intimidate him by instructing him to give glory to God for his healing and not the Man Who did it, because of Him they know that He is a sinner. So they want to separate his healing from the Lord Jesus, despite the fact that the healing beyond any doubt was done by Him. It is also beyond any doubt that only God has been able to do that healing, so the conclusion must be that He is God.

In their command the folly of unbelief is expressed which at the same time is a fatal sin. For it is impossible to honor God without honoring the Son (Jn 5:23), as people have so often done and continue to do so. What the Jews say out loud here, that Christ is a sinner, is said by everyone who sees Him just as man and does not confess and honor Him as the eternal Son of God.

The man is not impressed by their intimidation. He doesn’t know much about the Lord Jesus yet, but that He would be a sinner doesn’t enter his mind. He still speaks in veiled terms, as if he were wondering what happened. The one thing he does know is that he was blind and can see now. By its simplicity, this testimony has a great power. Nothing can be said against it. No sensible argument can be made against the logic of a perfectly established fact. Someone who has just been converted does not know much yet, but of the little that he knows, he can testify with certainty. Any attempt to defuse that is destined to fail.

The Jews cannot deny it either, but do not give up. They have to find out if perhaps there are weak points in Jesus’ actions and ask questions about them again. Did He do special deeds or speak words they could use to get hold of Him? They keep asking. Totally unintentionally they give the man the opportunity to give an increasingly clear testimony.

We see that the man has no fear of them at all, as is the case with his parents. Uninhibited, he answers them and even reprimands them. He has already told them how everything went, hasn’t he? But they didn’t listen. Why do they want to hear it again now? Or do they perhaps also want to become His disciples? He knows that they don’t want to, but their insistent asking for the known way brings him to this ironically meant question.

This also shows that he knows no fear of them and does not seek any connection with them in any way. He has had a life-changing encounter with the Lord Jesus and realizes that these people want nothing to do with Him. His meeting with Him and their rejection of Him places them in two totally different worlds that have nothing in common.

Put Out

The hatred of the religious leaders erupts through what they see as the man’s defiant and brutal words. This is the limit. Become a disciple of Him? Never! They revile the man for being a disciple of Him.

The testimony of the man was not vague. He has constantly testified of the Lord Jesus in simplicity and clarity, without knowing much about Him. He knows only “one thing” (Jn 9:25) and that is enough to testify of Him. And that testimony has been heard. Only it is rejected. He may be a disciple of Him, but they are disciples of Moses.

They boast on knowing that God spoke to Moses, but they are blind to the fact that Moses spoke about Christ. They don’t know where “He is from”. It is a culpable ignorance because they do not want to believe in Him. So much is clear now after the sign of the healing of the born blind man and his abundant testimony and the many other signs of the Lord Jesus.

The reason for this is that they do not want to abdicate from their throne in order to let Him take place on it. To bow before Him is unthinkable because they are after their own honor and the honor of people. Every interference in their own interests is answered by them with hatred, rejection and murderousness. The Lord Jesus is the greatest threat to their position of prestige that they want to hold on to at any price.

The ignorance of the religious leaders surprises the man. How on earth is it possible that they do not know where He comes from? Surely they also see what happened to his eyes and that this cannot be the devil’s work? The man then gives a beautiful testimony of Christ. He speaks in plural: “We know.” It is a knowledge of all Jews. They all acknowledge that God does not hear sinners (1Sam 8:18; Psa 66:18; Isa 1:15; Eze 8:18), but that He only hears someone who is God-fearing and does His will (Psa 34:15; Pro 15:29). The Lord Jesus is the perfect God-fearing One and always fulfills God’s will. He is therefore heard by God (Jn 11:41-42).

It is also a general principle for us. What the man says is of great practical significance for our prayer life and the hearing of our prayers (cf. Jam 5:16b).

The man points out that it is an unprecedented wonder in history. It has never happened before. Surely this wonder can only have been performed by Someone Who is God-fearing and does God’s will, isn’t it? It can’t be otherwise or “this man” must be from God. If it were not, He could do nothing at all. Not only would He not have been able to heal him, but He would not have been able to perform other wonders either. The conclusion is clear: He must be from God.

They can’t do anything against the man’s simple arguments. There is nothing left for them to do but call him a sinner and an ignorant man and put him out. How dare such a layman, such an illiterate, such an ignorant, such a man born in sin teach them – them, the scholars, the knowing, the theologians. Get out! They put him out, out of Judaism, for the sake of truth. This system has no place for him. He is expelled, he becomes a pariah in Israel. He has nowhere left to go.

But where does the man end up? Out, but in the arms of the Lord Jesus Who will never cast out His own (Jn 6:37). The man experiences what applies to the Lord from the beginning of the Gospel (Jn 1:11 ; Jn 15:18). What the enemies do is what the Lord calls in the next chapter the calling and even the putting forth of His own sheep from the fold. The enemies become the means to lead out and put forth the sheep.