“We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” The man answered,’’Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing’’
Do you remember who is speaking here? This was a poor blind man begging beside the road when Jesus found him. When asked why he was born blind, Jesus replied, “… so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
At first, I thought that the “works of God” were limited to restoring the man’s sight. Now I am not so sure. The clarity of the man’s logic is amazing and his courage is stunning. He knows full well who he is talking to and that there will likely be consequences for speaking out. Yet he has had an encounter with the living God and having tasted what is good (Psalm 34:8) he does not want to settle for anything less.
In this moment, speaking before the temple rulers, he logically lays out the case for who Jesus is. He begins by turning the words of the Pharisees back on themselves. They had said, “… we don’t even know where he comes from,” in a mocking tone, suggesting that Jesus is a nobody. The man who had been blind turns that around and points out that they are passing judgment on someone without even knowing the tiniest facts about who he is. He then proceeds to lecture the Pharisees on their own turf ending with, “If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
Indeed.