9:17
The Jews then turned to the man himself to see what his opinion was. It is not clear why they did this. Maybe it was a genuine inquiry after the truth. The man had actually been healed by Jesus, so maybe he had something worthwhile to say. This would be a reasonable thing to do, but the Jewish leaders were not reasonable people. It seems more likely that it was said in the tone of “and what do you say about this!”, with an angry intonation. When reading the Bible we need to recognise that often we are not dealing with reasoned academic statements, we are not reading a paper submitted to a learned journal. If we are to appreciate what is happening we need to remember the emotions of the people involved.
Whatever the case, the man had no hesitation in answering that the man was a prophet. Prophets were commonly associated with miracle working.
9:18,19
The Pharisees were looking for a way out. The fact of the miracle presented a problem to them, it was a hard fact that demanded some sort of response, so it would be much better for them (or so they thought) if it had not happened. So, clutching at straws, they sent for the man’s parents, hoping to find out that the whole thing was a hoax or a gross exaggeration. we see the same phenomenon today. People are highly reluctant to believe miracles, any half plausible alternative explanation will do. Now there is some justification for this for parts of the church do have a habit of over claiming, and some parts of downright lying. So a degree of scepticism is in order, but only some. There comes a point where a miracle actually becomes the most reasonable explanation, and the idea that miracles never happen is without foundation.
So the man’s parents were summoned.
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