The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 17

III. Tm: WITNESS OF THE DEGGAR HIMSELF. "They say unto the blind man agBin, What BByest thou of him, that he hath opened- thine eyes? He said, He is B Prophet." 1. IIe does not hesitate to oppose the judgment of the Pharisees in words that bespeak the firmest conviction. 2. lie recognizes in the miracle the energy of Divine power, and in Jesus the character of a Representative of God. 3. How often a simple, unlettered believer sees what learned rabbis, or doctors, or synods, cannot see I IV. '1'1m APPEAL 011' TllE PHARISEES TO THE BEGGAR'S PAREl,TS. 1. It was the suggestion of their unbelief. "But the Jews did not believe concerning him tbat he bad been blind." Unbelief always seeks to justify itself in some way. None are so blind as those who will not see. 2. They expected that the parents, through fear of excommunication, would either deny the identity of their son, or the far,t of hi, blindness from birth. 3. Mark the warines.~, yet the cowardice, of the prirents. (1) They adhere strictly to matters of fact. They declare the identity of their son and his congenital blindness, but decline to commit themselves as to tbe method of cure, or as to the person who had effected it. (2) They devolve the responsibility of an answer as to the most critical point upon their son. "He is of age; ask him." (3) Their caution is due entirely to fear. "'l'bese words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews." The excommunication was a serious thing in a thoroughly ecclesiastical community. It entailed social disadvantages and discomforts, as well as exclusion from the religious privileges of the Israelite. V. A FRESH APPEAL TO THE BLIND DEGGAB. "Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the glory: we know that this Man is a sinner." 1. They demand a denial of the miracle as in some sense essential to a right view of God's glory. (1) They desire to obliterate a fact by a false interpretation of the sabbatic law. (2) They regard the assertion of the beggar that Jesus was a Prophet as blasphemy, because it impeached at once God's truth and God's holiness. (3) The Pharisees represent themselves as the deposita.ries of theological knowledge, but assign no reason for a. conclusion adverse to Christ's claims. Their conduct is eminently unreasonable. 'l'hey oppose fact to knowledge. 2. The answer to their appeal brings further discomfiture. "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not : one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." (1) The beggar declines to settle theological problems. His reticence is wiser than the bold but groundless assertions of the Pharisees. (2) He takes his stand firmly upon fact. Once he was blind, now he sees. The difficulty is on their side; it is for them to explain it. The fact is without dispute. 3. The anger of the Pharisees. "Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples." (1) They confront unanswerable logic with the language of insult. (2) They oppose the authority of Moses-no doubt on the sabbath law-to that of Jesus. On the ground of their :illegiance to Moses they reject the clearest evidences of Christ's Divine mission. "But if ye recei'l'e not Moses' writings, bow can ye believe my words?" (3) Mark the crushing rejoinder of the begg:l.I'. "Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes." (a) The Pharisees claimed special knowledge to decide upon the authority of any one professing to be a prophet, yet they failed to give account of all the facts of the case. (b) The man asserts a fact of great theological import to settle the claims of Jesus: "Now we know that God heareth not sinners." (a) It is a fact based on Scripture teaching (Isa. i. 11-15; Ps. lxvi. 18; cxix. 7). All men, no doubt, are siuners, but the Scripture statement applies specially to men living iu habitual sin and without faith in God. (~) The privileges of believers are fully asserted. "But if any man be a worshipper of God, and docth his will, him he heareth." God hears the prayer of the man whose religion is both speculatively and practically true. (c) The miracle wrought in the present case was without parallel. "Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind." No science or skill had ever effected a cure of this sort. Therefore there must have been superhuman and Divine power exercised in the operation. "If this Man were_ not of God, he could do nothing." Thus his general argument from Script~re and his con- clusion alike deny the assertion of the Pharisees that Jesus was a sinner. (4) The passionate abuse lavished on their critic. "'l'hou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they drove him out." (a) The Phariseee cast in his teeth the calamity of his birth as a sign of special sin. 'l'hey forget that they are inly, by theii JOIIN-11, Q 18 THE GOSPEL A.OCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [on. IX, 1-41,