John 9:13-41

9:14-23 | The Sabbath was established as a day of rest (Ex. 20:8-10), but the Pharisees had added numerous regulations to make sure everyone “rested.” In their thinking, this healing - if in fact the man had been healed - was “work” and thus violated the Sabbath. Instead of celebrating the man’s good fortune, they saw only a violation of their rules and a threat to their power.

9:24-25 | The OT phrase Give God the glory is a Hebrew idiom that often meant “Confess your sins and repent” (Josh. 7:19). Many religions will say we know, just as the Pharisees did, but traditions and prejudices blind their followers. The newly sighted man challenged Jesus’ opponents and his I know declaration. His experience was not secondhand faith but the result of a direct encounter with Jesus.

9:26-33 | In anger, the Pharisees finally cast out the man, meaning they threw him out of the synagogue.

9:34-38 | The worst thing the Pharisees could have done was to assert that they were not sinners (1 John 1:8). The best thing they did was to cast the man out of the synagogue, where he saw Jesus with his own eyes and worshiped Him.

9:40-41 | As is often the case with those who reject Christ, the Pharisees were blinded by their pride, not by ignorance. They chose to not understand, preferring the darkness of their own self-interests to the Light of Christ.