34  Unbelief Investigates a Miracle  (John 9:13–34)

They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.” The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 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.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” The man answered and said to them, “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.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out. (9:13–34)

As God’s chosen people (Ex. 19:5; Deut. 4:37; 7:6–8; 10:15; 26:18; 32:9; Amos 3:2), the nation of Israel inherited His unique and gracious promises (Deut. 15:6; Rom. 9:4; Eph. 2:12)—the basic earthly promise of the land (cf. Gen. 50:24; Ex. 12:25; Deut. 6:3; 12:20; 19:8; 27:3; Josh. 23:5), and the heavenly pledge of salvation through the promised Messiah (Gen. 3:15; 49:10; Deut. 18:18; Isa. 7:14; 9:6; 11:1–2; 52:13–53:12; Jer. 23:5–6; Mic. 5:2; John 4:22; Gal. 3:16).

Tragically, Israel missed out on both of those promises. Although they lived in the Promised Land, the Israelites never possessed all of the territory God had promised them. Nor were they able to remain in the land permanentlysince due to their idolatry and sin, they were eventually conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians, and carried away into exile. Though a remnant returned in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, they soon fell under the rule of the Greeks, Syrians, and Romans. And only a few decades (A.D. 70 and following) after rejecting Jesus, they were both massacred and driven from their land for a second time, not to return to form an independent nation again for nearly two thousand years.

Israels disobedience, which prevented her from fully experiencing all of God’s promised blessings, was triggered by persistent unbelief. That unbelief began even before the nation entered the Promised Land. Not long after the Israelites left Egypt, God “said to Moses, ‘How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?’” (Num. 14:11). Because of their stubborn lack of faith, God prevented the entire generation of Israelite adults (except Caleb and Joshua; Num. 14:30, 38; 26:65) from entering Canaan. As the writer of Hebrews explains: “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief” (Heb. 3:18–19). Jude added, “The Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe” (Jude 5; cf. Num. 14:26–30; Deut. 1:32, 34–35; 9:23). In Psalm 78 the psalmist lamented the unbelief of that generation:

Even Moses and Aaron succumbed to temptation and were barred from entering the Promised Land (Num. 20:12).

Unfortunately, succeeding generations failed to learn from their ancestors’ unbelief. Second Kings 17:14 explains that the northern kingdom (Israel) was destroyed by the Assyrians because “they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.” Later the southern kingdom (Judah) also turned away from the Lord in unbelief and was taken into captivity by Babylon. Using the metaphor of an olive tree to symbolize the richness of God’s covenant blessings, Paul wrote that the Israelites “were broken off for their unbelief” (Rom. 11:20).

The gospel of John, which emphasizes belief in Christ, also documents Israel’s refusal to believe (John 1:11). They truly were, as the Lord characterized them, an “unbelieving generation” (Mark 9:19). Jesus said to Nicodemus, “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (3:12), and cautioned, “He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (v. 18). Responding to the feeble, sign-based curiosity of a Galilean nobleman, Jesus rebuked him (and others like him). “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” He said, “you simply will not believe” (4:48). The Lord told the hostile Jewish religious leaders, “You do not have [God’s] word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent. … How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?” (5:38, 44; cf. 7:48). To the crowd in Capernaum, eagerly seeking another miraculous feeding, Jesus said, “But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe” (6:36). Unbelief even characterized some who had claimed to be His followers (v. 64). John records that “not even His brothers were believing in Him” (7:5). Nonetheless, Jesus continued to speak the truth boldly, confronting His opponents with irrefutable logic and undeniable evidence. Challenging a hostile crowd in Jerusalem, He bluntly asked, “If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?” (8:46). And when the Jewish leaders accosted Him in the temple and demanded, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly” (10:24), Jesus replied, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep” (10:25–26). The sad reality is that “though [Jesus] had performed so many signs before [the people], yet they were not believing in Him” (12:37; cf. 16:9). Like their ancestors in the wilderness, most of the Jews of Jesus’ day failed to believe. (It should be noted, however, that in the future, prior to Christ’s return to earth and His millennial kingdom, the rebels of Israel will be purged and the nation of Israel will finally come to believe in Him as the Messiah. At that time, the Jews will fully experience all of God’s promised blessings, including full possession of the renewed Promised Land, and eternal salvation through their promised Savior [Rom. 11:25–26; cf. Isa. 45:11–17; Ezek. 20:36–44; Hos. 14:1–9; Amos 9:11–15; Zech. 12–14.) They will live with all the saints forever in the new heavens and new earth spoken of by Isaiah (65:17; 66:22) and John (Rev. 21:1–22:5).

Jesus’ amazing healing of a man who had been blind from birth was not enough to soften the hardened hearts of the Pharisees. Verses 13–34 expose the character of their stubborn unbelief and record the first overt break between Jesus’ followers and the Jewish religious establishment. The blind man is the first person known to have been put out of the synagogue because of loyalty to Christ (cf. 16:2).

Four characteristics of willful unbelief emerge from this passage: unbelief is inconsistent, intractable, irrational, and insolent.

UNBELIEF IS INCONSISTENT

They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. (9:13–16)

Unable to comprehend the startling healing of the formerly blind man (vv. 8–12), some who knew about it brought him to the Pharisees. It was only natural to seek an explanation from the religious authorities regarding this unprecedented (v. 32) incident. They probably did not bring him to the Pharisees on the day of the healing, however, because it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened the blind man’s eyes. The fastidious Pharisees would not likely have held such an inquiry on the Sabbath.

Beyond seeking an explanation, those who brought the man to the Pharisees may have wanted to see how their leaders would react to this blatant violation of the Sabbath restrictions. Whether or not this was a formal inquiry is not clear, though the fact that the Pharisees put the man out of the synagogue (v. 34) suggests that they met in some official capacity. Perhaps the Sanhedrin delegated them to investigate the incident. Whatever the technical nature of the enclave, it had an official effect.

Like those who escorted the man (v. 10), the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. He repeated all he knew, what the Lord had done, and his own action, stating succinctly, Jesus “applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

The immediate and predictable reaction of some of the Pharisees, who were saying, “This man Jesus is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath,” reveals the biased approach that controlled their investigation. In their eyes, Jesus had broken the Sabbath, not because He had violated any of the divine Sabbath regulations revealed in Scripture, but because He had ignored the restrictions and extrabiblical applications of the rabbis. For example, the Lord had made mud from His saliva and some dust, which supposedly violated the prohibition against kneading on the Sabbath. The rabbinic regulations also forbade giving medical treatment on the Sabbath unless a person’s life was in immediate danger, which was obviously not the case with the blind man. Additionally, some rabbis taught that it was not permitted to anoint the eyes with medicine (saliva was thought to have medicinal qualities) on the Sabbath, though opinion was divided on that issue.

This was not the first time Jesus had deliberately violated traditional Sabbath regulations. In Matthew 12:1–8 He defended His disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath, in violation of rabbinic law. Then shortly afterward He healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:9–13; cf. Luke 13:10–16; 14:1–6). Earlier in John’s gospel, Jesus had healed a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, so enraging the Jewish authorities that they sought to kill Him (5:9–18).

Why did He deliberately provoke the leaders by violating their Sabbath regulations? First and foremost, because it displayed His divine authority as Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5). But He also did it to demonstrate that such extrabiblical standards were an unnecessary and oppressive burden on the people. By making the seventh day a wearisome one governed by dozens of trivial, hairsplitting rules, the Jewish leaders had perverted God’s design for this weekly day of rest and thanks to God; after all, as Jesus pointed out, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). The religious leaders prided themselves on keeping the minutiae of the legalistic Sabbath rules, while at the same time ignoring far more important issues such as showing mercy (cf. Matt. 12:11–12; Mark 3:4; Luke 13:15–16). No wonder Jesus excoriated them for “[tying] up heavy burdens and lay[ing] them on men’s shoulders, [while] they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger” (Matt. 23:4). They corrupted the Sabbath, turning it from a day of glorifying God into a means of legalistic self-glorification.

Blinded by their own self-righteous system, it seemed obvious to this first group of Pharisees that Jesus could not be from God. Those who are from God, they reasoned, keep the Sabbath; Jesus did not observe the Sabbath regulations; therefore He could not be from God (cf. Deut. 13:1–5). But others were not so easily convinced. “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” they wondered, countering the first group’s reasoning with a syllogism of their own: Only those who are from God can open blind eyes; Jesus opened blind eyes; therefore Jesus is from God. As a result there was a division among them, just as there earlier had been among the crowd (7:40–43).

UNBELIEF IS INTRACTABLE

So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.” The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 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.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” (9:17–24)

That Jesus had performed the miracle was incontestable; it was literally staring the Pharisees in the face in the person of the seeing man. Obstinately unwilling to accept the evidence, however, they remained willfully unconvinced of the truth. They were like those whom God Himself described as “a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith” (Deut. 32:20 NKJV).

Continuing their interrogation, the Pharisees said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since (as you claim; cf. v. 18) He opened your eyes?” That the high-handed Pharisees would ask the opinion of a lowly beggar reflects either their scorn and mockery of the man, or their confusion and division (v. 16). The man’s bold and emphatic reply, “He is a prophet” (cf. 4:19; 6:14; 7:40) shows that he grasped the reality that the spiritually blind Pharisees refused to see—that Jesus was sent from God. His words reflect a growing understanding on his part as to the true identity of “the man who is called Jesus” (v. 11). As one commentator notes, “The man’s eyes are opening wider: he is beginning to see still more clearly, while the eyes of his judges are becoming clouded over with blinding, theological mist” (D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991], 368). His knowledge of Jesus, however, was not yet complete (cf. vv. 35–38).

Despite the evidence and the man’s clear and unequivocal testimony, the Jews did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight. Like those in verse 9 who “were saying, ‘No, but he is like him,’” the Jews (a title John often used to denote those hostile to Jesus, especially among the religious elite; cf. 2:18, 20; 5:16, 18; 6:41, 52; 7:1, 15, 35; 8:22, 48, 52, 57–59; 10:24, 31, 33; 19:38; 20:19) decided that perhaps this was merely a case of mistaken identity. Therefore they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight. Although others might be mistaken about this man’s identity, his parents would know if this was their son.

When the man’s parents arrived, the Pharisees questioned them, evidently with their son not present (v. 24). They presented three related questions: Is this your son? was he born blind? and if so, how does he now see? For a reason that will soon become apparent (v. 22), the man’s parents answered cautiously. They identified him as their son, and affirmed that he had in fact been born blind. But though their son had undoubtedly told them about his miracle, they carefully evaded the last question, instead telling the Pharisees, “How he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know.” Then, in an effort to avoid any further interrogation and reprisal, they suggested that the Pharisees ask their son for an explanation, since he was of a responsible age and could speak for himself.

John’s parenthetical note gives the reason for their hesitancy to get involved in the matter. His parents, John explained, said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” Contrary to what they told the Pharisees, the man’s parents evidently did know that Jesus had healed their son. Had they not known that, there would have been no reason for them to be afraid that the Jews might put them out of the synagogue because of Jesus. The term apsosunagogas, unknown to secular writers, meant to be excommunicated or put under a ban and a curse, a banishment that meant being cut off from the religious and social life of Israel; it was therefore a dreaded punishment (cf. 12:42; 16:2).

With the son positively identified and the Pharisees left with no legitimate excuse for denying that a genuine miracle had taken place, they were still unwilling to believe the claims of Jesus. They wanted the healed man to join them in that unbelief, so they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man Jesus is a sinner.” Demanding that he not give credit to Jesus for his healing, they insisted instead that he give the credit to God. Their exhortation to the blind man, Give glory to God, can also be understood as a charge to stop lying by saying that Jesus healed him and tell the truth, in the same manner as Joshua’s charge to Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me” (Josh. 7:19). Such a confession on the man’s part would equal agreement with the leaders’ conviction that Jesus was a sinner and not at all empowered by God (cf. John 8:52).

UNBELIEF IS IRRATIONAL

He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.” (9:25–30)

Undaunted by the Pharisees’ pronouncement about Jesus, the formerly blind man answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not

know.” He left that determination to the theological “experts.” But he stubbornly clung to the undeniable reality of his sight, declaring, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” He ignored their biased dilemma and declared the uncomplicated truth—Jesus had definitely healed him.

Stopped dead in their tracks by the incontestable testimony of the man, and left with no way to advance their lame argument, the Pharisees began to go over the same ground they had previously covered. They had already asked the question, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” in verse 15. Perhaps they hoped that this time around the man would contradict what he had said earlier, or say something else that they could use against Jesus.

Understandably exasperated by the Pharisees’ repeated questioning and obvious bias, the healed man answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again?” He saw no point in rehashing his testimony, since they obviously did not believe him anyway. Comprehending their animosity toward Jesus, he asked them sarcastically whether their repeated questions about Jesus implied that they wanted to be clear on the truth, so as to become His disciples.

His bold rebuke and biting wit struck a nerve. Incensed at his insolence, the Pharisees exploded in rage, reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.” Pulling themselves up by their self-righteous bootstraps and reacting to the man’s mockery, they retreated to the safety of their supposed loyalty to Moses. If an uneducated beggar like him wanted to follow an outcast sinner like Jesus, that was his choice; they would follow Moses. After all, as they heatedly told him, “God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man (they could not even bring themselves to name Jesus), we do not know where He is from.” They saw Jesus as a deranged (see the discussion of 8:48 in chapter 32 of this volume) and untrained (7:15) blasphemer (19:7) from an insignificant family in the despised village of Nazareth (cf. 1:46).

The beggar’s rejoinder was devastating: “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.” Jesus was able to do what only God’s power can do, to heal congenital blindness and create new, seeing eyes, yet the religious authorities claimed to be totally ignorant of His origin. Such was the irrational folly that resulted from their stubborn rejection of the facts. It has been this way ever since among those who know the gospel truth and cling to their sin and unbelief.

UNBELIEF IS INSOLENT

“We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is Godfearing 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.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out. (9:31–34)

This humble beggar now proceeded to give a theological lecture to the haughty, insolent religious leaders of his nation. He responded to the Pharisees’ syllogism (cf. the discussion of v. 16 above) with one of his own. His major premise was that God does not hear sinners (Job 27:9; Ps. 66:18; Isa. 1:15), but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him (Ps. 34:15; Prov. 15:8, 29; 1 Peter 3:12). His minor premise was that God obviously heard Jesus, since He gave Him the power to do something unheard of since the beginning of time: to open the eyes of a person born blind. His irrefutable conclusion was that “if this man were not from God, He could do nothing” like this.

Unable to reply to the man’s irresistible logic, and outraged that he would presume to lecture them, the Pharisees resorted to heaping personal abuse on him. “You were born entirely in sins, they sneered, and are you teaching us?” With sarcasm and scorn, they retaliated with an ad hominem attack, implying that for him to have been blind from birth he (or possibly his parents; cf. v. 2) must have been guilty of gross iniquity. Ironically, through their disparaging words, they admitted the fact that this man who now saw had indeed been born blind—a point they had earlier denied (v. 18). Then they put him out of the synagogue—extending to him the excommunication that his parents had narrowly avoided.

As this passage illustrates, when unbelieving skeptics investigate the miracles of Christ, or any other supernatural event recorded in the Bible, there can be only one outcome. Unless the Holy Spirit opens their blind eyes, they will deny the veracity of such accounts no matter what the evidence. The Pharisees in this passage were presented with living proof of Jesus’ divine power. And yet, shrouded in unbelief, they attempted both to deny the undeniable and to refute the irrefutable. As a former Pharisee (the apostle Paul) would later explain, “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14; cf. John 6:44).