And behold, many Pharisees, having separated from the rest, defend the miracle. However, even after separating, they speak in favor of Christ very weakly, and more doubtfully and half-heartedly than firmly. For listen to what they say: "How can a sinful man perform such miracles?" Do you see how weakly they object?
Look also at the cunning of the slanderers. They do not say that He is not from God because He heals on the Sabbath, but that He "does not keep the Sabbath"; they constantly put forward not the good deed, but the violation of the day.
Note also that the rulers were slower to do good than the people. The people had already earlier been divided in their opinions, and not all spoke against Christ, while the rulers only after the people came to this commendable division. For sometimes division is even a good thing, as the Lord Himself says: "I came to bring a sword upon the earth" (Matt. 10:34), that is, undoubtedly, disagreement for the sake of good and piety.
Jn. 9:17. Again they say to the blind man: what do you say about Him, because He opened your eyes?
Who were those asking "what do you say about Him?" They were from among the prudent ones, for they were saying: "How can a sinner do such things?" So as not to appear to be defending Him without cause, they bring forth as witness the very one who received the benefit, as one who had experienced His power firsthand, in order to shut the mouths of slanderers. See how prudently they ask. They did not say "what do you say about Him, because He made clay, because He did not keep the Sabbath," but they recall the miracle — "because He opened your eyes" — as if urging the healed man to speak the real truth about Christ. They remind him and encourage him: "Because He opened your eyes." "He," they say, "bestowed His grace upon you. Therefore you ought to proclaim about Him."
Jn. 9:17. He said: this is a prophet.
The blind man now confessed what he could, namely: that He is not a sinner, but from God, that He is a Prophet, although some say that He is not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath.
Christ anointed with clay using a single finger, and they consider Him a violator of the Sabbath. Yet they themselves untie animals with their whole hand in order to water them, and consider themselves pious.
Jn. 9:18. Then the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.
The hard-hearted and obstinate ones summon his parents with the purpose of putting them in a difficult position and thereby compelling them to deny their son's former blindness. Since they could not silence well-meaning mouths, they intimidate the parents, hoping to discredit the miracle. And so, they place them in the middle and interrogate them with fury and even greater malice.
Jn. 9:19. And they asked them: Is this your son, of whom you say that he was born blind? How then does he now see?
They do not say "is this your son, who was once blind," but rather "of whom you say," as if speaking thus: "whom you made out to be blind and spread the rumor of this everywhere, entirely fabricated and false." But, O impious Pharisees! What father would allow himself to lie so about his own child?
They press them from two sides and compel them to renounce their son: on one side with the expression "of whom you speak," and on the other with the question "how does he now see?" Do you see? By the supposedly false testimony of the parents that their son had formerly been blind, they diminish this miracle — that he subsequently received his sight. They say: "Either the fact that he sees now is false, or the fact that he was blind is false. But that he can see is true; therefore, you have falsely spread the claim that he was formerly blind."
Jn. 9:20. His parents answered them and said: we know that this is our son and that he was born blind,
Jn. 9:21. But by what means he now sees, we do not know; or who has opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He shall speak for himself.
The Pharisees posed three questions to the parents of the blind man: 1) is this their son? 2) was he born blind? and 3) how did he come to see? To the first two questions they answer affirmatively, that this is their son and that he was blind, but concerning the manner of healing they do not answer, owing to ignorance. This happened, without doubt, so that the truth might be established more firmly, so that it might be attested by the very one who received the benefit and therefore the most credible witness, as his parents themselves say: "He is of full age, he is not a child or a minor who would not understand how he was healed."
Jn. 9:22. His parents answered thus because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that whoever acknowledged Him as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
Jn. 9:23. Therefore his parents said: He is of age; ask him yourselves.
The parents answered thus because they feared the Pharisees. They were unsteady and more fainthearted than their son. But he was becoming a fearless witness of the truth; he had begun to see well with the eyes of his mind also.
Jn. 9:24. So they called a second time the man who had been blind, and said to him: Give glory to God; we know that that Man is a sinner.
As the parents insisted that their son should be asked, so the arrogant ones do. They bring him, but not in order to question him, rather to suggest to him an accusation against the Healer. For the suggestion "give glory to God" means: confess that Jesus did nothing for you; and in attributing nothing good to Jesus, they place the glory of God!
We know, they say, that He is a sinner. Why then did you not convict Him, when He challenged you to do so, saying "Which of you convicts Me of sin" (Jn. 8:46)?
Jn. 9:25. He answered them: Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that I was blind, and now I see.
The blind man says: "Whether He is a sinner, I do not know, and I am not now examining this, nor do I affirm it. But I know very clearly that He performed a miracle upon me." So let this matter be considered on its own and give an understanding of Him.
Jn. 9:26. They asked him again: what did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?