John 9:13-34 - The Reaction Of The Pharisees To The Healing

¹³ Then they brought the man who was formerly blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ Now it was on a Sabbath day that Jesus made the mud and opened the man’s eyes. ¹⁵ So the Pharisees asked him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He smeared mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Then some of the Pharisees said, “This Man [Jesus] is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner (a non-observant Jew) do such signs and miracles?” So there was a difference of opinion among them.

¹⁷ Accordingly they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “[It must be that] He is a prophet!”

¹⁸ However, the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the man’s parents.

¹⁹ They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?”

²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹ but as to how he now sees, we do not know; or who has opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him [and stop asking us]; he is of age, he will speak for himself and give his own account of it.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of [the leaders of] the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged Jesus to be the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue (excommunicated). ²³ Because of this his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So a second time they called the man who had been [born] blind, and said to him, “Give God glory and praise [for your sight]! We know this Man [Jesus] is a sinner [separated from God].”

²⁵ Then he answered, “I do not know whether He is a sinner [separated from God]; but one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

²⁶ So they said to him, “What did He [actually] do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered, “I already told you and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again and again? Do you want to become His disciples, too?”

²⁸ And [at that remark] they stormed at him and jeered, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know [for certain] that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this Man, we do not know where He is from.”

³⁰ The man replied, “Well, this is astonishing! You do not know where He comes from, and yet He opened my eyes! ³¹ We know [according to your tradition] that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone fears God and does His will, He hears him. ³² Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. ³³ If this Man were not from God, He would not be able to do anything [like this because God would not hear His prayer].”

³⁴ They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins [from head to foot], and you [presume to] teach us?” Then they threw him out [of the synagogue].