John 9:35-38

Jesus found the formerly blind man who had been faithfully testifying that Jesus had made him see. He had been thrown out, and Jesus asked him whether he believed in the Son of Man. The man’s response was, “And who is He, sir, that I should believe in Him?”

 

Good translators have often translated this phrase, “that I may believe in Him,” so my take on it could be wrong. But if I am not mistaken, this is an aorist or future subjunctive verb (I know, for most of you this won’t mean much, but if anyone reads this and wants to know why I translated it differently, I want to be clear for them). “May” is a fine translation, but “should” seems like a fine translation, too. Both of them indicate a possibility of belief, but it seems strange that a Jew – even a Jew as “radical” as this man who has dared to oppose the religious authorities – would be so eager to believe in someone as to use the word “may” without knowing for sure that this person was God, or was from God. “Should” indicates a willingness to believe if there is a basis for the belief, and Jesus’ answer to Him seems to provide that basis.

 

So if I understand correctly, “Who is He, sir, that I should believe in Him?” is the question. Who is the Son of Man? Why should I believe in Him? These are the issues.

 

And Jesus answers with two statements. The Son of Man is… 1. “You have seen (perfect tense) Him.” In other words, the person who healed you, the person who opened your eyes – you have seen Him, and you have seen Him at work in your life! 2. “He is the One talking with you.” Jesus says, “I am the Son of Man. I am the one who opened your eyes, whose power you have experienced in your life.” With these two answers Jesus responded to the man’s question, “Who is He, sir, that I should believe in Him?” Jesus says to this man, essentially, you should believe in the Son of Man because He is the One who opened your eyes, the One you believe was sent from God (since God does not work through sinners this way). And you should believe in the Son of Man because He has come back to you and is talking with you right now. You know both who He is and why you should believe in Him. So the question again, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

 

The seeing man’s answer? “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped Jesus.

 

I don’t think that this man was ready to believe in just anyone. I don’t think he would have believed in the Son of Man if Jesus had tried to persuade him that one of the Pharisees was the Son of Man, for instance. This man was stubborn enough to get thrown out by the Pharisees; he didn’t believe in whatever people told him to believe.

 

The reason he believed in Jesus was that Jesus healed his eyes. Jesus convinced this man that He was from God. So when Jesus identified Himself as the Son of Man, this man believed in the Son of Man because He already believed in Jesus. If he had understood when Jesus first asked the question that Jesus was asking whether he believed in his Healer, this man would have said yes right away!

 

We need to be as discerning as this man was. He believed what He had the evidence to believe, and He did not believe anything or anyone else. The Pharisees came to him and tried to convince him that Jesus was a sinner, but he knew that Jesus had healed him, and his logic told him that Jesus must be from God. As a result, he opposed the Pharisees and they threw him out. But the seeing man believed in Jesus, because Jesus spoke with him and confirmed the truth.

 

We also need to realize what matters are worth being so stubborn about. This man was discerning and stubborn about the most important thing – his relationship with God and with the One God sent. Too often we get divisive over smaller matters. We need to ask God whether the issues we choose stubbornly to hold on to are the issues He wants us to hold so dearly, or whether we are destroying His work by what we fight over. Let us keep Jesus at the center of our attention! He is the reason that those who follow Him may unite, and He is the reason that we divide from all who oppose Him. That is a division worth holding to! Like this formerly blind man, may we align ourselves with the Son of Man because we know who He is and what He has done for us! Remember the cross!