John 9:13-23 (ESV)

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵ So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. ¹⁷ So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” ¹⁸ The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹ But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²² (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) ²³ Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

The Pharisees realized that Jesus performed a miracle when he restored the blind man’s sight, so they asked the man how Jesus did it. The man maintained that he really didn’t know. Jesus put clay on his eyes, he washed, and then he could see for the first time. When the Pharisees heard that Jesus “made clay” on the Sabbath, they called him a law-breaker. He broke their Sabbath rules when he mixed mud and water together. “How could Jesus be from God?” they reasoned, “He worked by making clay on the Sabbath. He must be a sinner.” But others asked, “How could Jesus do these great signs and not be from God?” A division arose, and they asked the man who was healed what he thought about Jesus. He believed that Jesus was a prophet. Now, some of the Jews must have suggested that this man was never actually blind. They proposed that it was all a big hoax and got the man’s parents involved. They asked the parents if the man was their son and if he was born blind. They said “yes” on both accounts. They also asked the parents how he was able to see now. They said they didn’t know, which couldn’t have been true. When their son came home seeing for the very first time, there’s no way they didn’t ask how it happened. They were silent because they feared for their safety if they mentioned Jesus. So they told the Jews to ask their son himself.

Just as Jesus healed the man born blind, God has healed his followers of many spiritual sicknesses, diseases, and infirmities as well. In fact, all those born again have been delivered from spiritual death! Sometimes critics will wonder why the Christian doesn’t fear trials and tribulations the way non-believers might. The world wonders why we want to live for the life to come and not the here and now. When our spiritual opponents question us, we have to be honest and courageous. We don’t want to be like the man’s parents who claimed, “We don’t know who opened his eyes.” Let’s make sure we are always prepared and ready to give an honest and intelligent defense to anyone who would ask us about the hope that is within us. Let’s always do it with kindness, and let’s never forget to include the truth that Jesus is the one who allowed us to see, healing us of our spiritual blindness.