Act II The Interrogation
Notes
Transcript
A Miracle in 3 Acts – – The Interrogations
A Miracle in 3 Acts – – The Interrogations
Hopewell Baptist Church
November 17, 2019
Opening Illustration – Crime drama shows and interrogations, asking the same questions over and over, asking everyone involved.
Transition – Just as we see on TV how they ask the same questions over and over, we will see this same thing happen between the Pharisees and the man who received his sight…
, pray
Last week, we saw that, just as the man was born blind at birth, we, too, are born spiritually blind. And that Jesus is the light that opens our eyes (through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit).
Last week, we saw that, just as the man was born blind at birth, we, too, are born spiritually blind. And that Jesus is the light that opens our eyes (through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit).
Big Idea: When we are no longer spiritually blind, we begin to see the hand of God at work in all things, from nature and all of creation to signs and wonders and everything in-between!
Big Idea: When we are no longer spiritually blind, we begin to see the hand of God at work in all things, from nature and all of creation to signs and wonders and everything in-between!
I. Interrogation Part 1 –
I. Interrogation Part 1 –
a. V.13 – The neighbors who brought the man to the Pharisees had no malicious intent in their bones, they simply wanted to make known the miracle to the religious authorities.
i. Nearly everything had religious overtones, and a miracle definitely did.
b. V.14 – This gives us more insight to when this event occurred: The Sabbath day.
i. Throwback to
1. Not allowed to work (Spit rock/spitting on dirt moves the dirt, moving dirt = work in their eyes!)
2. Not allowed to heal unless it’s life threatening
3. Not allowed to anoint on the Sabbath day
ii. This also sets up v.16’s issue of miracles and the Sabbath.
c. V.15 – The Pharisees seek to know what happened, so they ask again
i. “again” denotes that they have asked him once already, and he’s most likely given them a thorough, detailed version of what happened.
ii. Here, he just repeats the major points of what happened, of how his eyes were opened.
d. V.16 – The division amongst even the Pharisees, like the people in , become apparent.
i. They cannot reconcile the miraculous work of the opening of the man’s eyes with the fact it was done on the Sabbath day.
1. The first group immediately assumes Jesus’ guilt and declares Him a sinner
a. Logical-Biblical argument, according to , but with the wrong results
b. This group’s argument is however based on the assumption that their interpretation of the Sabbath is correct (which it isn’t)
i. They have forgotten/neglected the allowances for works of mercy and necessity
1. ; ;
2. The second group feels that a sinner could never do such works.
a. Unbiblical (wrong) argument, however, they have the correct results.
e. V.17 – The man who had been healed, upon further questioning, states that he believes that Jesus must be from God, how else could he have healed his blindness.
i. The Pharisees don’t like this, so they move onto a second round of interrogation.
II. Interrogation Part 2 –
II. Interrogation Part 2 –
a. V.18 – The Jews’ arrogance leads them to initial disbelief.
i. Because they don’t believe the man was blind, they go find his parents and question them
1. The use of the word “until” makes it obvious that their assumption (that he was never blind) was wrong.
b. V.19 – The man’s parents confirm that 1. The man is their son, 2. He was born blind, and 3. They don’t know how he sees (v.20-23)
c. V.20-23 – The Pharisees got nowhere in their mission to discredit the man who received his sight.
i. The parents carefully deflect most of the questioning back to their son, as they don’t want to be put out of the synagogue.
1. Excommunication from the synagogue was a socioeconomic death sentence, which would often lead to actual death.
2. Anyone who confessed Jesus/believed in Jesus and said so out loud would be excommunicated from the Synagogue.
III. Interrogation Part 3 –
III. Interrogation Part 3 –
a. V.24 – Here, the Pharisees are stuck. They cannot dispute the miracle of the man receiving his sight, and they cannot/will not admit that Jesus is from God without exposing their own sin and hypocrisy.
i. They then try to get the man to, with God as his witness, declare that Jesus is a sinner (v.24).
b. V.25 – While his faith is in its infancy, the man intrinsically knows that Jesus is at least from God, and thus cannot state that Jesus is a sinner.
i. He does state the one thing: That he was blind and now he sees. The power of his testimony () of how Jesus, this “prophet” from God, worked in His life.
c. V.26 – The Pharisees start to display their true colors.
i. Here, they ask again how he his eyes were opened, most likely to try to get the man to trip up in his testimony
ii. The man, as we see in v.27, sees through this, realizing the duplicitousness of the Pharisees in this situation.
d. V.27 – The man realizes the Pharisees’ lack of impartiality
i. He has told the Pharisees a minimum of two times already what happened (v.15, “again asked”).
ii. He gets a little snarky with them, asking them if they secretly want to be disciples of Jesus.
e. V.28-29 – The Pharisees get mad at such an accusation, and say that they are disciples of Moses
i. We know that they, the Pharisees, are not disciples of Moses in lieu of ().
f. V.30-33 – We see that this man’s eyes, both physically AND spiritually have been opened! – He knows more about the Truth than the Pharisees!
i. This man has a great gift of common sense, when mixed with wisdom from God, makes this very evident
ii. The man points out two things regarding this interaction:
1. Jesus must be from God – v.30, 33.
2. How can you (the Pharisees) not see this (it’s an amazing thing) v.30
g. V.34 – The Pharisees show know their true arrogance, ignorance, and blindness to all that they claim to believe from Scripture.
i. They excommunicate the man from the Synagogue, costing him everything in a socioeconomic sense. Family, friends, income, home, etc.
ii. This arrogance mirrors their interaction with the Temple guards in
IV. Application – So What?
IV. Application – So What?
a. We must be willing to speak the Truth at all times in all situations, because Jesus is the Truth (v.17)
b. We must be willing to stand up for the Truth at all times in all situations, because Jesus worthy. (v.33)
c. We must be willing to lose it all in the name of Jesus, because Jesus is worth it (v.34).
i. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. -
V. Invitation
V. Invitation