John 9:8-13 : The neighbors therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?” Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.” They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?” He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.” Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.” They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.

Evidently, when a blind man sees, the neighbors talk. Even though these neighbors were not blind, they still couldn’t believe their eyes! We see here that there is some comedy in the Bible.

Compared to being blind, dealing with these neighbors was probably easy. As we go through this particular story, it becomes increasingly obvious to me that this blind man had gained inner strength through his troubles. His maturity stands out against the back-drop of the neighbors who didn’t even remember what their neighbor looked like. It is also interesting that instead of simply seeking Jesus to follow after Him, they hauled the man into court!

There is much more in the following verses about the maturity of the blind man we shall see. I don’t know for sure what the people were thinking when they took the man to the Pharisees, but I think that they may have wanted the leaders to reconsider Jesus based on this obviously good miracle that happened right in front of them all. I would imagine that they wanted the leaders to give them permission to follow Jesus. The problem with this is that evil men will never give permission to do this, even if it is the most obvious good thing anyone has ever seen, without being forced by some higher power. Sometimes, we have to obey God rather than men. God prepared the blind man for this day as we read next.