The Man is Cast Out
Excerpt
The authorities had earlier asked the man for his view of Jesus. Now they do not appreciate this fuller version of that for which they had asked. They are reduced to abusing the man in terms of their theology that his blindness was caused by sin, a perspective earlier dismissed by Jesus in his conversation with the disciples (cf. vv. 2–3), and they rebuke him for daring to try to teach them his theological insights. For the evangelist this man’s ability to teach the teachers would in all probability be seen as part of the fulfilment of the Scripture that was cited in 6:45—‘And they shall all be taught by God’ (Isa. 54:13). Finally, they drove him out. ἐκβάλλω, the Greek verb used here, can mean ‘to expel from a group’ and therefore takes on the force of the earlier notion of expulsion from the synagogue in v. 22. The excommunication his parents had feared is precisely the outcome of his witness.
Lincoln, Andrew T. The Gospel According to Saint John. London: Continuum, 2005. Print. Black’s New Testament Commentary.
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