John 9:27

The man who had received his sight responds to the latest version of the same questions. His answer carries more than a little bite. “Haven’t I heard these questions before?” He asks. “Did I not give you answers to these questions already? Why do you want to hear the story again? Perhaps you want to become his disciples like me?” John 9:27 EFP 

I love the boldness expressed in this text by the man healed from blindness! Remember, he is a somewhat hostile witness standing before a committee that has little tolerance for anyone who places their status quo at risk. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that these individuals are the ones responsible for protecting the religious purity and the social order. There was the extreme pressure as a consequence of Roman occupation and constant encroachment by competing religious figures that would pop up regularly on the Jewish landscape. It is a volatile time.

This makes the response to this group of political and religious giants even more admirable from my point of view, and certainly from the perspective of the onlookers on that day. It certainly would have been considered insolent by this group of men who were used to being given due respect and obeisance by people of much greater status that the likes of this beggar.

His latest statement is nothing short of defiant. I am quite certain it was a rhetorical question, since he must have known by then that they had no interest in becoming disciples of the man who healed him. But he has had enough of the triteness of the questioning and he knows that the meeting is not going to end well for him anyway. Note, the man already considers himself a follower of Jesus before he has even met him.  That is quite amazing. That boldness is apparently the mark of those who have had a life-altering encounter with Jesus. Lord, give me that boldness for you and your cause.