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The DEEP

I Don't Know

What to say when you don't know.

John 9:1–12

Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.”

He said, “I am he.”

Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

Then they said to him, “Where is He?”

He said, “I do not know.”

This week we will cover this healing miracle and the Pharisees’ rather curious reaction to it. Healing someone born blind is important because it’s the hardest miracle for a skeptic to explain away. Even raising someone from the dead isn’t as undeniable; people occasionally wake from very deep comas. Given the state of medicine at that time, it would have been difficult to be certain that someone was dead.

But everyone knows that being born blind is incurable. The Pharisees won’t be able to handle this.


There’s a useful lesson in how the blind man speaks. He is exact in his words—only testifying to the facts as he knows them. If he ventured into speculation, he would open himself up to all kinds of tricks. By sticking to what he is qualified to talk about, he doesn’t give anyone a counter-argument toehold.

Most importantly, when they ask him a question that he doesn’t know the answer to, he says, “I do not know.” Most Americans don’t realize they can do that. They’ve been taught since the first grade that “I don’t know” is a wrong answer. This is the key to a standard trick taught in Politics & Media 101.

Stupid questions can lead to stupid answers, and stupid answers make the evening news.


These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.

Mike Slay

As a mathematician, inventor, and ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, Mike Slay brings an analytical, conversational, and even whimsical approach to the daily study of God's Word.

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