1. How did the Pharisees get involved in this event? (13) What problem arose because this man had been healed? (14) What did the Pharisees ask the man who had been blind? What was his answer? (15)

2. Why were they divided in their opinion about Jesus? (16) What was the second question they asked him? How was it different from the first? What was the man’s answer? (17) What was the Pharisees’ hang-up? (18) In what respect was their investigation a farce?

3. What three questions did they ask the parents? How did the parents answer each question? What excuse did they give for not answering the third question? Why? How was the man born blind different from his parents?

4. How did the man born blind show courage? Why do you think he was so courageous? What was his attitude toward life?

5. What can we learn from the blind man about how to grow as a Christian? Were this man’s parents unusual in their attitude? (Are there times when I am afraid of suffering loss and want to shift responsibility to others? Do I have some hang-up that keeps me from being honest about the truth?)

Jesus made mud and opened a man’s eyes on the Sabbath. The man’s neighbors couldn’t believe that this was the same man. They had never heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind. They got into an argument about what had happened. Finally, they brought the man to the religious leaders, the Pharisees. This man’s tragic situation became an opportunity to show the power of God to men with faith. The work of God was displayed in his life. Jesus demonstrated the truth about himself. He is the light of the world. The Pharisees, however, did not look to God in faith. They depended on their own efforts to be righteous. They thought that obeying the law was more important than knowing God. So when Jesus made mud and healed a man on the Sabbath, they did not see the work of God that was plainly displayed in his life. They only saw a broken law. They were spiritually blind. Jesus was a threat to them, so they looked for a way to destroy him. They asked the man born blind questions, but their purpose in asking him was not to find the truth. They wanted to blunt this man’s testimony. They wanted him to be loyal to the establishment rather than loyal to the truth.

This passage contrasts two ways of looking at life. The parents of the man born blind had tasted the grace of God. Their blind son was healed. They should have been filled with thanksgiving. But they had no sense of gratitude for God’s grace. Their words and actions are based on their calculation of their own profit and loss. They realize that if they told the truth about their son’s healing, they would become most unpopular with the Pharisees and perhaps even be excommunicated from the synagogue. So they denied God’s grace, escaped from making a commitment, and put the responsibility for making the hard answer on their son. Such people have no love of truth and cannot rise above the level of physical life. Perhaps they succeeded in avoiding unpleasantness and escaped the problem, but they missed the great blessing of knowing Jesus and having eternal life.

The man who was blind had a different way of approaching life. He tasted the grace of God and he was grateful. He did not know much about Jesus. He had never even seen Jesus. He only heard his voice. When the Pharisees got into an argument about whether Jesus was a good man or a sinner they asked this man his opinion. When they questioned him first, he gave a factual account of what had happened. Now, he had to make a subjective and personal decision about Jesus. He did not calculate. He did not say what they wanted to hear. He have his honest opinion. “He is a prophet.” A man who loves truth and is willing to suffer loss in order to follow the truth, will know the truth and the truth will set him free (8:32). Can you truthfully confess Jesus as your Savior even when it is not the popular thing to do and may cause you to lose friends?

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