The man answered and said to them, Now in this is a wonderful thing, that *ye* do not know whence he is, and he has opened mine eyes.
The religious leaders have just told the man born blind that they cannot say where Jesus comes from. His reply turns that admission into the proof they refuse: the One they cannot place has opened his eyes.
His amazement is aimed at the leaders, not at the miracle. They cannot place Jesus, yet the result of His work stands in front of them, speaking:
"As for this man, we do not know where He comes from." There was the very point of faith. It was a full confession of their own utter ignorance on the vital question — and their own condemnation. If they did not know where He was from, He might after all be from God… But the man had a ground to rest on that their unbelief takes from them. He meets them on the point of their knowledge or ignorance by the certainty of the fact, on their own principles. The plain reasoning of faith is most sure and conclusive… This brought their unbelief clearly home to the poor man's mind. Their authority was painful, but it no longer mattered, for his answer rejects their unbelief: "Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where He comes from, and yet" — which they acknowledge as a fact — "He opened my eyes."
The Pharisees had called Jesus a sinner and turned on the man himself. He refuses to fight on that ground. He hands the question back to the leaders.
The man's answer was as solid as it was to the point. He sets aside the attack on himself. He treats it as a question for the religious leaders. They admitted they could not tell where He came from — the One who had done a work with no parallel as a display of God's power. It was hard, if not impossible, to believe that such a person could be evil, as they had charged. Even on the lowest ground, the case between Jesus and the Pharisees was plain, and their moral incapacity astonishes the man.
Their ignorance was not innocent. One writer shows where it came from:
It is remarkable how they rest in the knowledge they already have. He rests on the present evidence of God at work… Their unbelief lay in separating God and Jesus. This was wilful, given the evidence. God was showing new power, yet they rested on old teaching only. Being its disciples is right enough in itself, but resting there is the form unbelief takes: "You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses." Yet if they had received what God really said through Moses, instead of only the credit of belonging, they would have believed in Jesus as the Christ, for Moses spoke of Him.
He has no training and no standing. He has one fact, and it makes him fearless in front of the scholars.
The Jews did not see who was leading him on. They tried to puzzle him. But as with Christ Himself, when they tried to catch Him with questions, He went on calmly. Now the poor man says, "Here is a wonder of wonders! You clever teachers of the day, and you cannot tell who this is that has opened my eyes!" Then he takes the place of a teacher among them. A poor, dull man, only fit to be thrown out of the synagogue, yet giving a testimony to God in His character.
Each round of questioning leaves him bolder and clearer. What starts as a bare fact about his eyes ends as a settled conviction about the Person who healed them.
He reasoned rightly. The miracle showed that Jesus was of God. Light, too, was shining into that man's soul. The more they opposed him and belittled the Lord, the clearer he became… The Pharisees began by saying the Lord was not of God. The man's final testimony was exactly what they had opposed from the start.
The climb ends at the feet of the One he defends:
How gently and how blessedly the man has been led into the light by confessing Christ. First he owns that Christ is "a man called Jesus." Then, with more light, he says He is "a prophet." Faced with the Jews' condemnation of Christ, he boldly declares that Christ is "from God." Finally, in the presence of Jesus, he comes fully into the light, owns Christ as Lord, and worships Him as the Son of God. So the man is brought from blindness and begging to faith and worship.
- Evidence. The healed man rests on what God has just done. His opponents rest on what they already know. That is the dividing line.
- Ignorance. They admit they cannot say where Jesus is from. He calls that the amazing thing: the fact they admit already answers the question they refuse to ask.
- Unbelief. They kept Moses' name for the standing it gave them. Refusing the new power God was showing, while holding an old name, is what unbelief looks like.
- Boldness. A beggar with no training and one certainty out-argues the teachers. He ends up teaching them.
- Growth. Opposition does not dim his sight. It sharpens it: from "a man called Jesus," to "a prophet," to "from God," to worshipping the Son of God.
[But] we know that God does not hear sinners; but if any one be God-fearing and do his will, him he hears.
For the second time, the religious leaders question the man born blind. They call the One who opened his eyes a sinner, so he answers them with a rule they already accept.
The healed man does not claim special insight. He takes a principle his opponents themselves professed and lets the facts do the rest.
The plain reasoning of faith is most sure and conclusive... His questioners would not draw the conclusion, and that was their condemnation. So he reasons on principles they themselves accepted, meeting them on their own Jewish ground: "We know that God does not listen to sinners," and so on. We know these principles. Here is a miracle without parallel, a great work. "If this man were not from God," for faith draws definite conclusions, "He could do nothing."
Behind the saying lies an older rule about how God treats those who honor Him.
The man's answer was both solid and to the point. He brushes aside the attack on himself. He makes it a question between the religious leaders, who by their own admission could not tell where He was from, and the One who had done a work like no other as a display of God's power... "We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him." What can be surer as a general principle than this: "those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Sam. 2:30)?
The leaders had admitted the miracle. That admission trapped them.
But they have trapped themselves, and the man sees it. Is it not a marvel, he says, that they, the religious leaders, were ignorant of One who had opened the eyes of a blind man? God does not listen to sinners. That is, He does not approve a man of sinful character by giving him power to work miracles. The one He approves in this way is the one who truly worships God and does His will (vv. 30-31).
One writer was asked about this verse and answered plainly.
We do not think John 9:31 has anything to do with the matter you refer to. The Holy Spirit records what the blind man said to the Pharisees. But we believe God is always ready to hear the cry of any poor needy soul who looks to Him through Jesus. We see more and more how far the cold dogmas of theology are from the loving heart of a Savior-God. Some people use the bare letter of certain texts of Scripture in a rigid, off-putting way. We have no sympathy with that.
The second half of the verse reaches beyond the argument with the Pharisees. It touches our own praying.
Meanwhile, doing His will is of the greatest importance. But let it be His will, not some service we imagine and invent for ourselves. As we have seen, we must know and understand it first, and then put it into practice. "Whoever does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:17). And God hears the prayers of such people: "if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, God listens to him" (John 9:31); "if we ask anything according to His will He hears us" (1 John 5:14).
Each attack pushed the man to say more about Jesus. His last word was the very thing the leaders had denied from the start.
He reasoned rightly. The miracle showed that Jesus was of God. Light, too, was shining into that man's soul. The more they opposed him, and belittled the Lord, the clearer he got. "A prophet," not a sinner, but "a worshiper of God," and now "of God" — such were the steps in his testimony. The Pharisees began by saying the Lord was not of God. The man's last testimony was just that which they had at first opposed.
The cost was immediate, and so was the compliment hidden inside the insult:
What then remained for his adversaries? Nothing but scornful rage, and the harshest blow their religious power could strike. "They cast him out." Yet without meaning to, they first bore witness to the force of his words: "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" They were too proud to learn.
- The principle — "God does not listen to sinners" was common ground. The man reasoned from what his accusers already accepted.
- The proof — to be heard here means God backs a man with power. The miracle had no parallel, so the conclusion was plain: "If this man were not from God, He could do nothing."
- The limit — the verse is not a rule that God ignores needy souls. He is always ready to hear anyone who looks to Him through Jesus.
- The condition — God listens to the one who does His will. It must be His will, not a service we invent: "if we ask anything according to His will He hears us."
- The result — pressure did not silence him; it cleared his sight. First a prophet, then a worshiper, then "of God." The leaders threw him out, too proud to learn.