Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                 Chapter Nine

                                                                                                                                              Verses 28-34

These Jews became enraged when this healed man suggested that they should become Jesus' disciples. They stopped their investigation and made their judgments. They condemned the healed man for being Jesus' disciple, and they claimed that they were Moses' disciples. They thought of Moses as being the enforcer of God's Law, but they forgot that God had also given Moses and the people a sin offering and a burnt offering for their cleansing and forgiveness when they inevitably sinned. Leviticus 5:7-10. Jesus described their sinful attitude toward God's Word and His people. Matthew 23:23; Matthew 15:1-9. These Pharisees misused Moses' authority to enforce their own cruel authority.

The healed man became even bolder and more courageous toward these Pharisees. The healed man turned their own beliefs against them, They claimed that they did not know from where Jesus came, but they also knew that God does not hear the prayers of sinners. Yet, God had heard Jesus' prayer and had opened the eyes of one who was born blind. This healed man pointed put to them that they contradicted themselves in their own beliefs. Jesus could not possibly be a sinner.

These enraged Pharisees did not answer this man's charge against them, They simply invoked their supposed superiority over the healed man, and they made their final judgment that he was a nobody "born in sins" who had no right to teach them. Then they put him out of the synagogue. Their excessive pride caused them to forget that they too were sinners in need of God's cleansing and forgiveness. Leviticus 5:7-10.