A Line in the Sand

4 Interrogations and 1 Conversion

The Man and His Neighbors (v. 8-12)

Three Groups

The Interrogators (v. 8)

They ask the question

“Is this not the one who used to sit and beg?”

It is because of their question that we know what we already assumed, that the blind man was indeed a beggar.

Comes across as very callous. - “Yeah, thanks for reminding me. I almost forgot that just minutes ago I was a blind beggar.”

The Believers (v. 9a)

Not in Jesus

But they did believe in the miracle

They believed that this was in fact the blind man.

Perhaps these are the people who on occasion tossed a few coins in his cup.

The Deniers (v. 9b)

This is a total refusal to believe

They demanded a logical, physical explanation

It cannot be him, it must just be someone who looks like him.

The Blind Man (v. 9c-12)

“I am the one!” (v. 9c)

Can you imagine how frustrating this must have been for him?

To know that you were the object of a miracle and yet have so many people not believe you or reject the source of that miracle.

“Then how were your eyes opened?” - Probably not the first time he has answered this question and it wont be the last. (v. 10, 11)

Jesus

Mud

Wash

Sight

“Where is He?” - “I do not know” (v. 12)

Apparently by the time the man had washed his eyes in the Siloam Jesus had moved on and the formerly blind man didn’t know where to find Him.

Some of his neighbors probably wanted to check his story, while others wanted to meet the man who could perform such a miracle.

Summary

This is the least hostile of the interrogations

Reminds us that different people respond to Jesus in different ways.

There are those with serious questions about Jesus

There are those who believe in Jesus as a

Person

Historical Figure

Good man and teacher

but not as their personal savior

There are those who outright deny Jesus with hostility

May this serve as a reminder that the gospel meets people where they are at.

The drug addict doesn’t have to get clean to accept Christ

You don’t have to fix your temper to come to Christ

I am not excusing sin. These are things that genuine believers will work on and through Christ have victory in, but they are not prerequisites for salvation.

Wherever you are at and whatever you are struggling with the gospel is for you.

The Man and the Pharisees (v. 13-17)

Context (v. 13, 14)

They bring the man who was formerly blind to the pharisees

IT WAS ON THE SABBATH!

It was probably not the Sabbath when they brought him to the pharisees, but it was the Sabbath when Jesus performed the healing.

From the pharisee’s perspective Jesus had broken their law on three points

Healing or medicine was forbidden unless it was to save a life

Making mud was considered work

Some considered the anointing of the eyes to be forbidden on the Sabbath

D. A. Carson said that “the combination of these factors transformed the sense of open, probing amazement they should have experienced into suspicion, doubt, and theological umbrage”

It is important to recognize that Jesus wasn’t actually breaking the law but rather was only ignoring the extrabiblical restrictions and applications of the law that the religious leaders imposed.

This was not the first time Jesus deliberately violated their rules.

In Matthew 12:1–8 He defended His disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath, in violation of rabbinic law.

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).

The fact that Jesus did this on the Sabbath governs everything that the Pharisees say and think.

Why?

because it displayed His divine authority as Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5)

to demonstrate that such extrabiblical standards were an unnecessary and oppressive burden on the people

The Interrogation (v. 15-17)

The Question and Answer

How did you receive your sight?

Answer

Jesus

Mud

Wash

See

A Divided Verdict

“This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.”

When we invest ourselves in a particular worldview it is very hard to make any changes

They were invested

Emotionally

Relationally

Vocationally

“How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?”

Signs themselves do not really create an air tight argument

When God allows it demonic forces can do the miraculous

However, at least these few individual pharisees are willing to follow the evidence

Well what do you think? (v. 17)

“He is a prophet”

Obviously this is not a statement that indicates this man has accepted Christ, but it shows he is on his way.

The Man’s Parents and the Pharisees (v. 18-23)

It’s a conspiracy! (v. 18)

Apparently a number of the pharisees still didn’t believe that this man is who he says he is.

So they call for another witness - his parents

The Interrogation (v. 19)

Is this your son?

Was he really born blind?

Then how can he now see?

The Response (v. 20, 21)

We know this is our son.

He was born blind.

How he now sees we do not know nor do we know who healed him.

He is of age why don’t you ask him?

“of age” = at least 13 years old, meaning he could give legal testimony

Perhaps he is younger than we thought

Summary

The pharisees are desperate for any explanation other than Jesus

The parents are willing to throw their son under the bus to save themselves.

When they were asked who healed their son they said they didn’t know. So either they didn’t believe their son’s claims that Jesus did it or they did believe him and wouldn’t stand up for him.

They immediately try to get the focus back on their son.

The Pharisees draw the first line in the sand (v. 22, 23)

They had already agreed - they rendered their verdict before hearing the evidence

That if anyone confesses Jesus as the Christ they would be put out of the synagogue

To be put out of the synagogue was a serious punishment

It was to be excommunicated from all religious activity and much of their social life.

The parents were obviously aware of the pharisees stance on Jesus

Thus the pharisees have drawn a clear line in the sand, you are either with Jesus or you are with us.

The Man and The Pharisees - Part 2 (v. 24-34)

They are giving the man a second chance to take their side. (v. 24)

Their line in the sand couldn’t be clearer at this point.

Admit, before God, that this Jesus is a sinner and couldn’t possibly be the messiah

Or face religious and social excommunication

A Beautifully Honest Response (v. 25)

Whether or not he is a sinner I do not know

Maybe he is maybe he is not

He was definitely leaving room for this man to be his messiah

One thing I do know I was blind and now I see.

For this man the truth was uncomplicated

Jesus had healed him

Rather than looking for truth from his interrogators this man was clearly waiting to see Jesus again.

This serves as a reminder that it is okay to admit when we don’t have all the answers.

A Desperate Question (v. 26, 27)

Tell us again, how did He open your eyes?

At this point the man had enough

I already told you. (More than once probably)

A bit of satisfying sarcasm

Why do you keep asking about Him?

Oh, you must want to become His disciples.

A Hostile Defense (v. 28, 29)

They reviled him

You are His disciple but we are the disciples of Moses

as for this man we do now know where he is from

Some Common Sense (v. 30-33)

It is amazing that you do not know where He is from - they have been arguing about this with Jesus all along

Yet here I stand as a testimony not of where He is from but of what He can do.

His argument

God hears the prayers of those who fear Him and do His will

Since the beginning of time no one has opened the eyes of the blind

If this man were not of God he could do nothing.

The Punishment (v. 34)

You were born entirely in sin - thus you were blind

Who are you to teach us?

The put him out.

The Man and Jesus (v. 35-38)

Jesus takes the initiative

Jesus once again found him (v. 35a)

The formerly blind man probably didn't know what Jesus looked like.

Jesus heard that he had been put out and came to find him.

He then asks the man the most important question ever posed to him. Do you believe in the Son of Man?

A title for the messiah

From the book of Daniel

It points to His deity as much or more than His humanity

The Man Responds in Faith

“Who is He, Lord that I may believe in Him?” - in other words point the way

His heart was prepared to believe in Jesus.

He just needed that final piece to the puzzle.

He believed that Jesus either was the messiah or could point him to the messiah.

Jesus Rewards His Faith

He presents Himself as the object of saving faith

He told the woman at the well “I who speak to am He”

He told the crowds in chapter 8 “unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins”

Here He tells the formerly blind man that “you have both seen Him and he is the one who is talking with you.”

The man responds with the only appropriate response

Lord I believe

Worship

Jesus and the Pharisees (v. 39-41)

Did Jesus come do judge or didn’t he?

“God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (3:17).

“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son … and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.” (5:22, 27)

Jesus didn’t come to judge, but judgment is the only possible outcome for those who reject Christ.

Jesus often turned human wisdom on its head

He came into this world so that the blind may see.

The blind man is a physical illustration of this spiritual reality.

The blind man had an advantage that the pharisees didn’t. He knew he was blind both physically and spiritually.

The Pharisees were blind and didn’t know it.

“Were not blind too are we?”

Jesus: it would be better if you were blind

It all comes down to the fact that they were unwilling to admit their need.