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The DEEP

A Marvelous Thing

"With all due respect."

John 9:26–34

Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.”

The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out.

If the Pharisees think they can intimidate this guy, they are sorely mistaken. He has felt the power of God in his own body and he couldn’t care less what these guys think. They don’t have any real power, and he has encountered someone who does.

Thus, he loses respect for these guys—and then loses his temper. He lights into them, mocking their point of view as, “a marvelous thing.” He concludes with, “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.” It’s an airtight argument.

So, they then lose their temper and kick him out. To paraphrase Jack Nicholson, “They can’t handle the truth.”

Curiously, as they kick him out, they announce their answer to the original question posed by the disciples—the one that started this whole sequence of events—“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus replied, “Neither.” The Pharisees’ answer is, “You were completely born in sins.”

It’s not clear whose sins they’re referring to, but their answer is about as far away from “neither” as you can get.


The Pharisees act like no one has ever stood up to them before. They’re amazed by this uneducated guy who just trashed their whole argument in a single sentence. Their response is to cancel him, using the conditions of his birth as an excuse.

He apparently doesn’t know his place.


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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