John 9:24-34 : So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?” They insulted 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 don’t know where he comes from.” The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” They threw him out.
It appears that, this time, these leaders decided to threaten the man into changing his testimony. They told the man to “Give glory to God,” but it appears that they wanted the man to allow them to maintain control over him. The problem is, this man had never been more free in his life. He could now see and didn’t really need their blessing to be free. Sometimes, when we have had so much, it is difficult to see how much we still have when things get difficult. When we have little and suddenly are given even a small break, it is a very big thing. That reminds me of another proverb:
Proverbs 27:7 : A full soul loathes a honeycomb; but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.
The Pharisees arguments began to loop in circles. They began to re-question the same witnesses and re-ask the same questions. It appears that they were going insane. This brave man decided to chide them by saying: “You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?” and “How amazing!” Their blindness really was amazing. Giving site to a man born blind is a completely unusual thing and the man recognized it as something from God.
The Pharisees exposed their judgment of the man as a sinner since birth. I am pretty sure that this is because they blamed his blindness on the fact that he was a sinner. Their logic isn’t consistent because the man was no longer blind. Did that mean he stopped being a sinner? If his blindness was indeed because of his sins and a punishment from God, wouldn’t it be more consistent to think that it was God who also removed the blindness? If he was no longer being recognized by God as a sinner, why would they be throwing him out?
The man was told to leave but it turned out to be a good thing as we see next.
Medicine and Science: This was a remarkable medical miracle. When a blind man is given sight, the brain must learn to process the information even if the eye starts working again. God not only gave the man the ability to see with his eyes, He gave the brain of the man the capability to immediately process the information as if he had learned since birth. It is important to remember that God is the master programmer of the universe and that He is capable of creating a fully mature set of programs and structure just as He did when He created Adam and Eve.