Devotional - John 9:13-23 - We All Know What Assuming Does...

Passage To Study:

John 9:13-23

[13] They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees. [14] Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. [15] Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” [16] Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. [17] They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” [18] But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. [19] And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” [20] His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; [21] “but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself.” [22] His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. [23] Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” [24] So they again called the man who was blind, and said to him, “Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner.”

What are the facts of the passage?:

(Verse 13-14) - The man who was healed is brought before the Pharisees and we are told that it was the Sabbath when Jesus healed him by making clay and opening His eyes.
(Verse 15) - The Pharisees question the man, and the man answers simply and directly.
(Verse 16) - There is division among the Pharisees about whether Jesus was of God or not.
(Verse 17-18a) - Some of the leaders begin to attack the man's credibility, doubting if he was ever really blind.
(Verse 18b-21) - They call his parents who answer factually that he was born blind, but that they know nothing more than that.
(Verse 22-23) - We are told that the Parents did this out of fear of the Jews - and of the loss of their standing in the Synagogue.
(Verse 24) - They again call the man and ask him to recant, saying they know He (Jesus) was a sinner.

What do those facts mean?:

(Verse 24) - "Give God the praise..." can be viewed in one of two ways. Either it is a form of of an oath or it is an attempt to simply get the man to say that Jesus was not the one to heal Him (or to stop saying that Jesus was the One Who healed him). Their aim at any rate was to remove Jesus from the picture entirely. It is clear by now that they hate Him badly enough to want Him dead, or out of the picture at the very least.

In favor of it being an oath we do see the form else where, in Joshua 7:19 for instance. It is seen as the urging of Achan, in the presence of God, to acknowledge the truth. The idea there is that no one would knowingly lie in God's presence. Thus they invoke the presence of God to establish that accountability and encourage Achan to "Fess up".

The meaning here cannot be that he should simply give God the praise for his being healed because we've already seen that they were not willing to admit that he even had been healed. This shows the influence of the Sadducees who did not believe in the supernatural. The man could not have been healed because such healings do not happen. This is another example of how one's unBiblical assumptions can color how we interpret or understand events around us. Such assumptions can even work to prevent faith!

Regardless, they were, at the very least, attempting to get him to drop Jesus from the picture. This was their ultimate priority. The were unwilling for Jesus to have any part in their concept of the way God might conduct Himself. They wanted Him gone at all costs. This fervor grows as time passes until, at last, we see illegal trials, manufactured evidence, and lying witness; all willingly embraced and endorsed by these ''religious" men.

''We Know..." underscores their glaring presupposition. They had decided ahead of time that Jesus was but a fraud and a mere man. They assumed it because they never really stopped their defense of their position long enough to look objectively at the evidence. The miracles of Christ should have established what He was preaching as the Truth. But these Jewish Leaders never even honestly examined the evidence. Their assumptions told them all they needed and all they wanted to know. This is definitely a "don't confuse me with the facts" kind of situation. ''.

''...A sinner" is directly a reference to the alleged breaking of the Sabbath; but obliquely to Jesus' character as a whole. Their assumption and their haste to defend their tradition and preserve their power lead them to tragic and profound error! Jesus was the One Man in all history Who was not a sinner! That these supposed leaders missed and/or ignored His true nature and identity (for which there was ample evidence) is perhaps the greatest testimony to the danger of unBiblical assumptions ever!

How do those facts apply to my life?:

No one is exempt from assumptions. We all have them and they affect all of our decisions. Sometimes that effect can be grave and profound.

What should I do in response?:

I need to examine my own assumptions to be sure that there is nothing that will prevent me from seeing and submitting to the truth!

Day

We All Know What Assuming Does...