Print this Page

to discern or not to discern

They bring to the Pharisees the one formerly blind. It was in fact a Sabbath day on which Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes and so the Pharisees again were questioning him how he received sight. In fact, he himself said to them, “He placed clay upon my eyes, and I washed myself, and I see.” (John’s first century eyewitness biography of Jesus: Chapter 9: 13-25)
 
As can be seen above, a blind-from-birth man, who can now see clearly, is causing deep controversy in AD 30 Jerusalem. It was well known that “the Pharisees” wanted to get rid of Jesus, so much so that his stoning had been attempted a short while before.

A miraculous sign of deity like this was the last thing they wanted. They had to disprove it somehow. Otherwise, they’d have to accept it. 

So some from the Pharisees were stating, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others were stating, “How is a sinful man able to do such signs?” and there was a division in them. 

“Some from” them found the answer they wanted. The sight restoration had taken place on “the Sabbath” (when God’s Law forbade all work), “this man” was a breaker of God’s Law and therefore “a sinful man”. On that basis the miraculous sign had not taken place. But it had. 

So they state again to the blind one, “What do you state concerning him, since he opened your eyes?” In fact, that one said this, “He is a prophet.” 

In a renewed effort to square the circle, they ask “the blind one” for a statement about Jesus.  “He is a prophet.” Unfortunately for them, this statement - “He is a prophet.” – meant that Jesus was a person bringing to the nation of Israel the truth revealed by the Lord God.
 
So, the Jews did not believe about him that he was blind and received sight, until this. They called the parents of the sight receiver himself and questioned them stating, “Is this one your son, the one you yourselves state that, ‘He was born blind’? How then does he now see?” 
.
The opponents of Jesus seem to have only one recourse now available to them: to deny that the man was born blind and now sees. They seek confirmation of this from his parents. His parents are between Scylla and Charybdis. If they say the truth, they’re excommunicated from everything in Jerusalem relating to the Lord God. These Pharisees had power over them.

So his parents replied and said, “We have discerned that this is our son and that he was born blind.  How in fact he now sees we have not discerned, nor have we ourselves discerned who opened his eyes. Question him! He has maturity. He will speak concerning himself.” His parents said these things since they were fearing the Jews, because the Jews had already resolved together that if anyone might confess Jesus as Christ, he was to be excommunicated from the synagogue. Because of that his parents said that, “He has maturity. Question him!” 

“Question him! He has maturity.” “He has maturity. Question him!” But this is not the end of the matter. They’ve already questioned him – and he hasn’t given them the right answer. What’s to do?
 
So for a second time they called the man who was blind and said to him, “Give glory to God! We ourselves have discerned that this one, the man, is a sinner.” So that one replied, “If he is a sinner I have not discerned. One thing I do discern: that being blind, now I see.” 
.
“Give glory to God!” They want the born-blind man who now sees to change his tune. They instruct him to give all the glory to the Lord God for his restored sight. He must stop bringing Jesus into it because they had “discerned” that “this one, this man, is a sinner”. 

But the born-blind-but-now-seeing man hadn’t “discerned” what they had “discerned”. “If he is a sinner I have not discerned. One thing I do discern: that being blind, now I see.” 

Could it be that the Pharisees were unwittingly asking the now-seeing man to state the truth by commanding him, “Give glory to God”?
 
Sinner Syvret
Email this newsletter to a friend
*All mandatory fields must be filled in
Friend`s name
Friend`s email address *
Your name
Your email address *
Message
Send comment
*All mandatory fields must be filled in
Your name *
Your email address *
Your comment *