Think back with me to John 5, just a couple chapters ago, when Jesus healed a different man with a lifelong malady. The parallel is evident, and the contrast is telling. The lame man from a couple chapters ago apparently wasn’t ready to leave his dejected misery, so he just reported Jesus to the Pharisees and disappeared. But this blind man shouted his healing and his joy from the rooftops until his love landed on Jesus the Christ. Why the difference? Perhaps, given Jesus’ revolutionary “I am” speeches that came in between, the blind man recognized the bread of life when he tasted it, and the light of the world when he saw it?
The confrontation between the Pharisees and the former blind man here reaches a dramatic, hilarious, and irony-ridden climax. The Pharisees are starting to realize that the conclusion about Jesus that they’ve made, on which rests all their pride and status, is starting to oppose all common sense, and in their denial and embarrassment they get angry. Exposed consciences tend to lash out and blame. We see this all too commonly. They think they have a foundation in the law of Moses, but I imagine Moses rolling in his Heavenly grave since they didn’t understand that his writing was all about Jesus. But as the Pharisees in their lies grew in blind, immature judgment, the former blind man in the truth grew in understanding and joy. He knew one thing: “I was blind, but now I see.” And with nothing but a testimony and common sense, he came to better and better understand the truth of his Savior Jesus.
With no other way to protect their pride, the Pharisees essentially excommunicated the man from Jewish worship. Indeed this kind of faith may at times make us enemies of the world (in fact it actually should!), but when that persecution comes, we can face it as fearlessly as the former blind man did. Don’t forget to think about what Jesus has done for your and what it really means. Even if all you have is the testimony “I was blind, but now I see,” that’s all you need in order to know, love, and worship the glorious loving kindness of the God who gave you sight.
