John 9:13-34
9:13 a The Pharisees (see 1:24 b) were arbiters of legal interpretation, so the community looked to them to explain this miracle. Rather than celebrate the healing, these religious leaders interrogated the man because Jesus had performed the miracle on the Sabbath (see 5:16-18 c).9:17 d The man had already identified his healer (9:11 e, 16 f). Now he made his own spiritual judgment, calling Jesus a prophet.
9:18 g The Pharisees wanted to discount the miracle and hoped the man’s parents would deny the healing.
Summary for John 9:20-22: 9:20-22 h His parents confirmed that their son had been born blind, but they hesitated to judge how he could see because they were afraid of the social consequences.
9:24 i God should get the glory for this: Greek reads Give glory to God. Cp. Josh 7:19 j.
Summary for John 9:28-29: 9:28-29 k The Pharisees could not defeat the logic of the miraculous sign (9:24-25 l, 30-33 m), so they turned from reason and cursed him (see 9:34 n).
• The harsh division between Jesus and the religious leaders was clear. They considered those who followed Jesus to have rejected Moses and Judaism.
9:30 o The Jewish leaders did not know where Jesus came from. The man’s astonishment was understandable—a healing like this was unprecedented. Jesus’ works confirmed his origin as from God. Once his true identity was known, belief and discipleship should have followed, but the Jewish leaders were willfully blind.
Summary for John 9:32-33: 9:32-33 p Only God could do something such as open the eyes of someone born blind. By healing the man, Jesus offered the Jewish leaders an unquestionable sign that he was from God and was the Messiah (cp. Ps 146:8 q; Isa 35:5 r; 42:7 s).
9:34 t Discipline such as being thrown out of the synagogue was not uncommon. It brought social isolation that might require the man’s departure from the village. Such serious persecution was precisely what Jesus predicted for his followers (15:18-27 u; 16:2 v).
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