They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.
John 9: 18
What is a formerly blind man to do when people don’t believe he was blind? Even people who knew him or had at least seen him often argued about whether or not he was the same man. To my knowledge blindness was not one of the illnesses that would be considered “unclean” so there was no need for this man to go to the temple to be declared “clean” after he was healed. Even so, he was taken before the Pharisees by those who first encountered him after he was able to see. After explaining what happened to the Pharisees, they did not believe the man’s story.
In fairness to the Pharisees, these are sophisticated men. Their job is, in part, to sort out truth from error, so they would naturally be skeptical. It is only when we realize that they will never be open to the truth that we see this response as God sees it: a condition of the heart. They don’t want to believe.
Instead of being filled with wonder, they appear to be filled with fear and envy. They are afraid that they are in danger of being replaced by this upstart who claims to be God’s son. They are envious of his power to work miracles when they see themselves as being much more deserving of such power.
And we still have these struggles today. As sinners, we want power and are quick to claim and defend it. The Pharisees were not open to hearing the truth because they would lose their power (position).
I was reviewing some curriculum today and they specifically highlighted that this can be a powerful motivator to hide sin and a hurdle for men seeking after purity.
I think today that there is ample evidence for the truth of Scripture and who Jesus is: Manuscript evidence, eyewitnesses of the resurrection, extra-biblical sources that corroborate Scripture, archaeological evidence, prophetic evidence, scientific evidence pointing to intelligent design, etc. People do not disbelieve in Jesus for a lack of evidence, they don’t believe because they wish not to and instead wish to believe something else.
This is something we discussed at Philos this week. It is all to easy to get attached to prominence and have a self seeking heart even as we do church. One of the common ways I see this is the tendency to fear people and do things because of social pressure rather than do things out of a proper fear/reverence for God. I know this is something I must always watch in myself.
I appreciate all of your comments today. The hardening of the heart is a disease of the soul. It makes it very hard to accept Jesus. It is so important to remember who He is, and how much we need Him.