They did not believe a miracle had happened, so they looked for a way to disprove it (John 9:18). Barnes says "the Pharisees proposed three questions to the parents, by which they hoped to convict the man of falsehood": is this your son, was he born blind, and how does he now see? He adds, "They evidently intended to intimidate the parents." Gill says they imagined "there was a fraud in the case, that it was collusion between Jesus and this man." The first question tests the facts; the second presses the parents to explain the cure, and so to speak about Jesus.

The parents answered the facts: "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind" (John 9:20). Barnes notes, "To the first two questions they answered without hesitation." But on the cure they held back: "by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him" (John 9:21). John explains that they spoke this way "because they feared the Jews" (John 9:22). So the leaders called the son a second time (John 9:24).

The Jews had agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus as Christ "should be put out of the synagogue" (John 9:22). That phrase is one Greek word, aposunagogos, which Thayer defines as "excluded from the sacred assemblies of the Israelites; excommunicated." It appears only three times in the New Testament, all in John (John 9:22; John 12:42; John 16:2). Barnes describes two grades: "The first excluded a man for thirty days from the privilege of entering a synagogue," while the second was a permanent exclusion with curses. Gill explains "of age" as "at man's estate," which among the Jews was reached "at the age of thirteen years."

The effort to disprove the miracle only confirmed it. The parents' testimony settled the very facts the leaders doubted: this was their son, and he had been born blind. Matthew Henry writes, "The Pharisees vainly hoped to disprove this notable miracle." Barnes adds, "Had they been half as much disposed to believe on Jesus as they were to disbelieve, there would have been no difficulty."

The parents also show what fear can do. They had seen the greatest gift of their son's life, yet would not name the One who gave it. Henry observes, "The fear of man brings a snare," pointing to Proverbs 29:25. Their son, facing the same threat, spoke boldly (John 9:25, 30-33).