NOTES for Joh 9:32-34

One phenomenon of religiosity is the prism through which a religious person looks at the world. The Pharisees had such a prism: after all, they were deeply and, in many ways, sincerely religious people. That is why they were not satisfied with the simple and fairly obvious explanation of what had happened, the explanation that satisfied the man born blind whom Jesus healed. The healed man was not as religious as the Pharisees investigating the case, and in a certain sense that made things simpler for him.

He reasons without looking back at the Pharisees' religious concepts. Did this Man heal me? He did. That means God is with Him. It cannot be otherwise. Especially since healings like this had never happened before. The case is unique. What other proof is needed?

For the Pharisees, however, everything is not so simple. They have other criteria. And the main criterion is not the presence or absence of healing. It is not the fact that God's power is manifested and at work. The main thing is conformity to certain criteria taken from the corresponding religious tradition. Such criteria are, of course, invented by people. But to a religious person they usually appear to be given by God, not invented by people. And therefore the conformity of what is happening to these supposedly God-revealed criteria is the most important thing. Even if there is a miracle before one's eyes, it cannot be considered genuine if it does not conform to religious criteria.

The Pharisees investigating the healing are trying to do exactly this, questioning the healed man again and again about what happened to him. They are trying to find at least some hook that would let them obtain an explanation that satisfies them. But there are no hooks. And the healed man cannot understand what they want from him. He has explained everything. Everything is clear to him. The Pharisees assure the healed man that the Man who healed him cannot be from God; their religious criteria clearly say this. Then how is the healing possible?

But to the healed man himself all these arguments seem like an artificial and useless theory. He says: I know only that this Man healed me; as for how it happened, who He is and where He is from, you know better, so sort it out yourselves.

In the end, after failing to find an explanation that satisfies them, the Pharisees investigating the case drive the healed man away. No person, no problem. Perhaps the matter will even be forgotten on its own. And the healed man finds the Savior. He, at least, has certainly lost nothing.