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The consultation with the parents:
v. 18. But the Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.
v. 19. And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who, ye say, was born blind? How, then, doth he now see?
v. 20. His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
21. but by what means he now seeth we know not, or who hath opened his eyes we know not. He is of age; ask him; he shall speak for himself.
v. 22. These words spake his parents because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that He was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
v. 23. Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
The Jewish rulers, having found the testimony of the former blind man too simple to permit any questioning, now tried to invalidate his statements by expressing doubts as to his former blindness. In an effort to discredit the whole matter, therefore, they called the parents before their tribunal. Mark the procedure of a typical hierarchical government. The parents were asked whether they were sure as to the identity of this man, and also whether they knew in what way he had received his sight. We can very well imagine the scene, the timid old people shrinking back before the overbearing manner of the inquisitors, hardly daring to open their mouth, for fear of saying something that would offend the mighty ones. They could testify as to their son's having been born blind, but they were very careful to remain absolutely neutral, to retain a disinterested attitude as to any possible miracle, for the Jews had threatened all those that would confess Christ or speak in His favor with excommunication. They referred the examiners to the man himself. He was of age, and he was fully able to speak for himself. They did not want to risk excommunication, since that shut them out from practically all intercourse with any but the lowest class of people. And that was the understanding among the members of the Sanhedrin, to put the confessors of Christ out of the Church. "Of excommunication there were three degrees: the first lasted for thirty days; then followed a 'second admonition,' and if impenitent, the culprit was punished for thirty days more; and if still impenitent, he was laid under the cheer, or ban, which was of indefinite duration, and which entirely cut him off from intercourse with others. He was treated as if he were a leper. This, to persons as poor as the parents of this beggar, would mean ruin and death. " Note: It is a terrible judgment upon unbelief that the unbelievers cannot see the plainest and surest facts which are held before their eyes. The resurrection of Christ, the inerrancy of the Bible, and scores of other facts which have the testimony of the best witnesses in the world on their side are still being questioned by people that claim for themselves fairness. But their blindness is so dense that they can no longer. see the light.