seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
John 9:13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”
The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
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Here's a link to the commentary I read.
Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes: Jesus took the initiative in this miracle, and could have done it on any day He chose. Jesus chose to do this miracle on the Sabbath to challenge the petty traditions of the religious leaders, traditions that they lifted to the place of binding laws.
“One of the categories of work specifically forbidden on the Sabbath in the tradition interpretation of the law was kneading, and the making of mud or clay with such simple ingredients as earth and saliva was construed as a form of kneading.” (Bruce)
Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath”: To the Pharisees, Jesus could not be from God because He did not line up with their traditions and prejudices.
There was a division among them: Instead of uniting everyone, Jesus often divided men. They were divided between those who accepted Him and trusted Him, and those who did not.
In choosing, they took one of two sides regarding Jesus.
- Jesus is a sinner and should be rejected.
- Our understanding and application of the Sabbath law is wrong.
But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind: It was easier for the religious leaders to believe that the man was never really blind than to believe that Jesus healed the man.
“Unable to explain this unprecedented phenomenon of a man born blind being enabled to see, they will not admit that it has really happened.” (Tasker)
By what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know: The parents could identify their son and that he was born blind. They would not speak to the question of how he was healed because of the threat of excommunication (the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue).
Ezra 10:8 is an Old Testament example of excommunication.
Dods wrote of the practice in the ancient Jewish world: “Of excommunication there were three degrees: the first lasted for thirty days; then followed ‘a second admonition,’ and if impenitent the culprit was punished for thirty days more; and if still impenitent he was laid under the Cherem or ban, which was of indefinite duration, and which entirely cut him off from intercourse with others. He was treated as if he were a leper.” (Dods)
We know this Man is a sinner: They said this not because Jesus broke the law of God in the Hebrew Scriptures; they said this because Jesus did not obey their man-made traditions around the law. They said this despite the evidence, not because of it.
One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see: The man born blind didn’t know everything about Jesus, but he did know how Jesus had touched his life. At that moment, it was an irrefutable argument. They could not argue against what Jesus did in this man’s life.
They said to him again: The tone implies a harsh, intense interrogation. They demanded answers from this man who now could see.
I told you already, and you did not listen: The man born blind showed a simple and profound wisdom in his back-and-forth with the esteemed and educated religious leaders. If they kept asking the same question, they would keep hearing the same answer.
You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us? These religious leaders despised the common people, and this man in particular. They were especially angry because he was right and they were wrong,
“A mortified man will yield to learn of anybody; ‘a little child shall lead him’.” (Trapp)
And they cast him out: The excommunication of the blind man — difficult as it was — turned out to be a good thing, because he would shortly be far more connected to Jesus.
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I don't know if any of you remember going to church in the 50's or 60's. I do. When we got to church, we did not run or shout or play. We had to keep our clothes clean. Our dresses were clean and pressed and the crinoline itched a little when we sat in the pew. We had to be just perfect because we were in God's House where Jesus was.
After church, the families would meet in the parking lot. The men put their coats in the car and unrolled the cigarettes rolled in their sleeve, lit their cigarettes and talked "man talk". The women all met under a tree and they talked "woman talk" and the kids played quietly. We all had to be reverent because we were at God's House.
No doubt, there were deals to be made and recipes to be swapped [none of the women worked back then, unless they were nurses or teachers].
If we had been exiled from the church... our lives would have been turned upside down. If no one would talk to us, our world would be turned upside down. For some women, going to church or the grocery store was their only time to be around grownups. Our friends would have made fun of us at school too. It would have been horrible.
The blind man in this story was just going about his blind life. He had been blind since he was born. He didn't know anything but being blind. There wasn't anyone to teach him how to be blind. Believe me... you can't teach blind. It's an experience all its own. He learned how to get to where he would sit and beg. He learned how to get home after begging. He set himself up near the Temple so the people who were "godly" would put a few coins in their pockets for him. If he were thrown out of the Temple, no one could acknowledge him. They couldn't put a few coins in his cup. They had to ignore him. He might as well be dead... or a Samaritan.
I wonder. when God was sculpting the blind man, did God show the blind man to Jesus and say "This is the one". Did Jesus already know where to find the blind man? Did Jesus choose that path to walk at that moment because He knew the blind man would be sitting there with his cup?
Was it cruel of God to make that man blind when He sculpted him? Was it cruel of God to let the Israelites be conquered, even though those Israelites kept making up their own rules and holding them over the head of the Israelites like bludgeons? Was it cruel of God to let the Pharisees and the Sadducees run the "house" with their nitpicky laws?
Is it cruel when a mother spanks her kid's butt? Is it cruel when a father spanks his kid? Is it cruel when a teacher sends a note home when their kid doesn't obey the rules in school?
Was God being cruel to the man when He sculpted him blind? What did that man do that was so bad he would have to navigate life with no instruction or light?
The Pharisees and the Sadducees threw him out of the Temple. Now that he could finally see.... They wouldn't allow others to talk to him so he could match the sound of their voices to the look on their faces. What does a blind man imagine a human looks like if he's never seen a human?
The blind man was interrogated and thrown out of the Temple.
Jesus healed him and the Pharisees and the Sadducees just could not accept it.
He was exiled! He was thrown out!
