(Vs. 26) These Pharisees were unable to get this man to deny what Christ had done for him; so they urged him to repeat the story again, either hoping that he would contradict himself or that they could find something in what he said to persuade the people that it was all a fraud. Unbelief is usually occupied with HOW rather than with WHOM! Faith is occupied with Christ Himself, rather than with the method.
(Vs. 27) It is marvelous to see how this man's boldness and confidence increased. God gave him wisdom and courage before these religious leaders. "I gave you the full account of what Jesus of Nazareth did for me, and you did not believe." Then, either sarcastically or else seriously, be asked them why they wanted to hear it again. Would they ALSO be His disciples?
(Vs. 28-29) Unable to answer him and unable to deny this great miracle, they began to curse him and to hurl anathemas at him. How like our day! Unable to answer the Scriptures or to deny the miracle of grace and regeneration, men resort to name-calling and harsh charges against the true believer. "We are Moses' disciples." This claim was as false as it was haughty; for if they had believed Moses, they would have believed Christ; for he wrote of Christ Jesus (John 5:45-47; Luke 24:27). They knew that Cod spoke to Moses, but only by tradition and through the reading of the Scriptures. They knew nothing of The MESSAGE, which God spoke to and through Moses concerning the Messiah and His redemptive work. This is truly indicated by their own words, "As for this fellow, we know him not!" (John 5:39; I Cor. 10:4; I Cor. 5:7).
(Vs. 30-33) Here was a poor beggar, deprived of the advantages which these Pharisees enjoyed; yet he knew what they did not know. He knew that Jesus Christ was OF GOD! God had hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes (Matt. 11:25: I Cor. 2:7-14). He rebukes these religious leaders on several counts.
1. Here is a marvelous miracle. A man has opened the eyes of a man blind from birth; and you, who claim to speak for God, do not know who He is.
2. You claim that He is an imposter and a blasphemer. We know that God does not hear and do His work through imposters, but through those who do His will.
3. Even Moses never gave sight to the blind. That was something that only Christ did.
4. If this man were not of God, He could do none of these things. Even Nicodemus, the Pharisee, admitted this (John 3:2).
(Vs. 34) These religious leaders were infuriated. They were theologians, graduates from schools of learning, and occupied high offices; therefore, it was beneath their dignity to be instructed by this unsophisticated disciple of Christ (I Cor. 8:2). "Dost thou teach us?" In anger they excommunicated him from the temple and from all the privileges of the Commonwealth of Israel. To an Israelite, excommunication was second only to the fear of death. This has been the tactics of religious leaders for centuries, to cast true disciples out of "the church."
(Vs. 35) The report of his excommunication quickly spread and became the talk of everyone. As a man, Jesus Christ came to hear of it; though He, as God, knew it when it happened. He found him, not by chance, but because He sought him as He cares for and seeks all His sheep. How true it is that those who honor the Lord are honored by Him! The Lord receives the outcast. He asked him, "Do you really believe on the Son of God – the Messiah?"
(Vs. 36-37) He knew that this Jesus was a prophet, that He was of God, and that he was totally open to His instructions; so he said, "Who is He, Lord? Tell me Who He is that I might believe on Him." How can they believe on Him of whom they have not heard? (Rom. 10:13-14). He spoke to the beggar as He did to the woman at the well, "I AM HE." Faith comes by hearing! Miracles do not work faith. This man had received sight; but he must have Christ revealed to him in order to believe on Him as Prophet, Priest, and King (Rom. 10:17).
(Vs. 38) He immediately made an open and hearty profession and confession of his faith in the Lord Jesus. He fell down and worshipped Him as God, trusting, believing, and resting in Him alone. His excommunication from men meant nothing. He had Christ, the Lord!
(Vs. 39) Christ came into the world that those who are in the darkness of sin, ignorance, and unbelief, and who are conscious of that fact, and who desire spiritual sight, may see the glory of God in Him. "And they which see might be made blind;" or those who profess themselves to be wise, who fancy themselves to have the key of knowledge, who deny their sin and darkness by nature, might be given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart. Sinners will be saved; the self-righteous will be hardened in their darkness (Matt. 6:23).
(Vs. 40-41) These Pharisees perceived that He referred to them and asked, "Are we blind also?" Our Lord answered, "If you knew yourselves to be in spiritual darkness, in need of grace and forgiveness, in need of the light of God, and desired to truly see, your sin would be pardoned and taken away. God would have mercy upon you! But now you boast of your righteousness, your knowledge, and your spiritual wisdom. Therefore, your sin remains upon you and you shall die in your sins!"