February 18
JOHN 9
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.”
– John 9:18-23
JOHN 9 CONTINUED UNBELIEF
A poem by ILMA inspired by these verses
If someone continues with his unbelief, he will pursue logic
Man’s mind will do its best to understand what it cannot fathom
When a man leans too much on his own mind, he will not believe
Because of unbelief, there’s no way they will see signs or receive it
Continued unbelief leads to double-mindedness and confusion
They are tossed and blown like the wind and they are unstable.
In this account we see how relentless the Jewish leaders are to investigate the healing of the blind man from birth. They will never believe or admit or even entertain that it may be true that Jesus healed him. So, they summoned the parents of the man to further ask them with the threat of excommunication if they didn’t show up or give them sufficient answers to satisfy their investigation.
In Ezra 10:18, we see an example of the consequences of excommunication. It says that those who failed to come within three days would, if the leaders and elders so decided, forfeit all their property and be expelled from the assembly of the exiles. According to a commentary by Dods, they are treated like lepers and entirely cut off. We can therefore understand why the parents were so terrified and deflected answering anything about the healing of Jesus to their son who is already “of age.”
REFLECTION
• Share some insights about the effects of continued unbelief to people.
