Anchor My Faith

Denial Because of Fear

Scripture: John 9:17-23

We ended the previous lesson with the former blind man being asked the question, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” To their question, ^{Jn 9:17} “He said, “He is a prophet.”’

The question is not clear about what is being asked, but I believe the man thinks about the power that worked such a miracle in him and concludes that Jesus must be a prophet sent from God, for he has never seen or heard of a man doing such a thing before. Being a prophet, according to Jewish tradition, made it lawful for Jesus to violate the sabbath, thus the former blind man did not see Jesus as a sinner, but as a prophet sent by God to perform this act of goodness and kindness for him.

^{Jn 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?”’

Those who are opposed to Jesus will look for ways to discredit him or in some way not believe or accept him or what he says. The Jews were not willing to believe that Jesus healed this man born blind, so they called the parents and hoped that they would say that this man, their son, never was blind. If their son was blind, then they wanted the parents to explain how he received his sight. I look at how these Jews are thinking and behaving, and I see the same thing in today’s American politics. There is constant effort to discredit the truth and support that which is false as truth to establish one’s own agenda.

To the question, “How then does he now see?”, ^{Jn 9:20} “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.”’

The parents confirm that this man is their son and that he was born blind, but how he received his sight they said they did not know and if they wanted to know, they should ask the man. There is no reason to believe the parents didn’t know, they simply didn’t want to somehow jeopardize their access to the synagogue and so out of fear they said, “He is of age; ask him.” These parents were not willing to in any way allow an association to be made with Jesus. If these Jews opposed Jesus, then they might oppose them if they in some way were connected to him.

Conclusion

The parents of the blind man were not willing to associate themselves in any way with Jesus for fear that it might be to their disadvantage and result in some form of loss or suffering. If you lived under persecution, which I believe is coming to America, and you were asked if you were a Christian, would you say yes and risk loss and be willing to suffer, or would you deny being a Christian? At what level of loss and suffering would you deny Jesus? What value have you placed on him? Are you willing to give everything, including your life for Him?