John 9:20 - Printer Friendly

ESV: His parents answered, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

NIV: "We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind.

NASB: His parents then answered and said, 'We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

CSB: "We know this is our son and that he was born blind," his parents answered.

NLT: His parents replied, 'We know this is our son and that he was born blind,

KJV: His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:

NKJV: His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

These parents have been called before a council of Jerusalem's religious leaders. In the gospel of John, the cadre of scribes and Pharisees and those who follow them are referred to as "the Jews." The reason for their summons is a miracle Jesus has performed: giving sight to a man who had been blind from birth (John 9:1–7). To investigate Jesus—and hopefully to discredit Him—the religious leaders interrogate the man's parents to see if the person claiming to have been healed really is their son, and if he really was blind his entire life.

The parents' response is timid and short for a reason. The religious leaders of Jerusalem have already declared a punishment for anyone who follows Jesus: excommunication (John 9:22). In that era, this was more than just a once-a-week church relationship. It meant being cut off from the core identity of the entire community. The formerly blind man's parents seek to tell the truth. Yet they are clearly reluctant to say anything beyond the bare facts which they know. Their testimony will continue (John 9:21), including their plea for the interrogation to focus on their son.

John 9:13–34 describes the Pharisees' reaction to Jesus' healing of a man born blind. Rather than being swayed by an obvious sign of divine power, they look for excuses and criticisms to discredit the miracle. They interrogate the man's parents, who timidly defer back to their son. The healed man knows nothing more than this: ''though I was blind, now I see.'' His matter-of-fact responses to the Pharisees highlights their obvious prejudice. As a result, they excommunicate the healed man from the synagogue. Jesus will meet with the man in the next passage to give more context for the miracle.

Jesus encounters a man who has been blind his entire life. Consistent with notions of that era, the disciples assume the disability is due to some specific sin: either the man's or his parents'. Jesus challenges this idea and heals the man. His restoration leads to interrogation. The Pharisees try to discredit Jesus' miraculous work. The healed man's simple, straightforward perspective embarrasses the religious leaders, who excommunicate him in frustration. Jesus meets with the healed man, explaining more about His identity and the purpose of His ministry. Jesus also reminds the Pharisees that those who ought to know better, spiritually, will be held more accountable as a result.

Jesus has begun to actively confront the false teachings of local religious leaders. His most recent debate included a heated exchange with the Pharisees. There, Jesus claimed to have existed before Abraham. This resulted in an attempted stoning for blasphemy (John 8). Here, Jesus continues to antagonize religious hypocrites by healing a man who was born blind. The ensuing ruckus further exposes Jerusalem's religious leaders as shallow, prejudiced, and false. This event launches Jesus into another lengthy discussion of His ministry. That, recorded in chapter 10, includes several crucial teachings on His role as Shepherd.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.