As we’ve studied John 9 we saw how the neighbors of the blind man who was healed missed their opportunity to meet Jesus. The Pharisees also missed their opportunity. Now let’s consider the man’s parents.
They knew the painful reality of their son’s blindness. They were no doubt poor, so the son resorted to begging for his livelihood. When miraculously given his sight they had the opportunity to find out who it was that did this for their son. When the Pharisee asked, “Is this your son? Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” “We know it is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”
The time frame is not clear. We don’t know if they had talked with their son after his healing, before being questioned this way. But it does say they answered the way they did because they were afraid of the consequences of identifying themselves with Jesus, the healer.
When their son experienced what they were afraid of for themselves, it implies that there was no one else to stand with him. Had they stood with him they would have met Jesus, because Jesus found him and helped him understand who He was who healed him. It was Jesus, the Son of Man.
His parents had opportunity everywhere to start with, but by sidestepping the issue opportunity rapidly ebbed away, and very likely ended tragically for them. Beware of missing your opportunity to meet Jesus.
