John 9:18-23

John 9:18-23

Therefore the Jews did not believe regarding him that he was blind and he received sight even up to the time when they summoned the parents of the man who had received his sight.  And they asked them while saying, “Is this one your son, whom you all say that he was being born blind?  Therefore how does he now see?”  Therefore his parents answered and said, “We have known that this one is our son and that he was being born blind.  But as to how he now sees we have not known.  Neither have we known who opened his eyes.  Ask him, he has a mature age.  He will speak regarding himself.”  His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already mutually agreed in order that should anyone confess Him as Christ he should be expelled from the synagogue.  Because of this his parents said, “Has has a mature age, ask him.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The Jewish leaders do not believe.  Their hearts and their minds are still closed.  They bring in the formerly blind man’s parents in order to find some evidence that things are not as they seem.  As these verses unfold we can see the evidence of the Jewish leaders against them.  They aren’t looking for truth.  They are looking for the truth that they want to find.

Why do you think the Jewish leaders’ hearts and minds remain closed?  What keeps them closed off to what God is doing?  Where are you guilty of the same process?

Second Thought:

It is easy to look down upon the parents for deflecting the problem back upon their son.  Yes, they bear a burden of guilt here.  But they do not bear the burden of guilt for putting this problem on their son.  He is of an adult age, he should bear the burden!  What the parents bear the guilt of is not confessing Jesus as Christ.  Here is a man who restored the eyesight of the son.  The most they can muster after seeing such a profound sign occur in their life is to not say anything bad about Jesus by deflecting the conversation away from them.  The burden of guilt that these parents bear is in choosing their livelihood – acceptance into their community through their synagogue – instead of choosing to see God’s hand at work.  The most we can hope for is that as Jesus worked in the life of their son – as we’ll see in a few verses – that he also worked in their life as well.

Why do we let the things of this world prevent us from boldly declaring our faith?  Why is maintaining our status quo such an obstacle to living in faith?  What would you do in this life if you didn’t have to worry about maintaining all the things around you?

Third Thought:

At the very least, this passage continues to speak about family.  The world likes to think that there is no bond stronger than biological family.  What we see throughout the Gospel stories and especially here in this passage is that there are things more powerful than the bond of biology.  The bond of spirituality is one of them.  The parents were willing to claim their son biologically speaking.  They were even willing to claim that he had recovered his sight.  But they were not willing to make a spiritual stand with their son.  In fact, they were willing to put him back in the spotlight so as to remove themselves from the pressure of the situation.  In life, we need people who will stand with us with respect to the things that matter: the ways of God.

Who in your life stands with you over the things that matter?  Why do they stand with you?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 9:24-34