Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 216 · August 4
One Thing I Know
“He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.”
Second interview, same room, and they open by swearing him in and announcing the verdict in one breath. Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. Give God the praise is not encouragement; it is the formula for putting a man under oath. Joshua used it over Achan and the stolen goods when he wanted a confession. Tell us the truth, and here is the truth we expect.
What comes back is the shortest statement available. Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. He hands back the question he has no training for and keeps the one item that is his. Watch how it grew. At the door: A man that is called Jesus made clay. Pushed: He is a prophet. Pushed again and he is arguing back, If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. The rest came after they threw him out, when Jesus found him and he said, Lord, I believe.
Set the two situations side by side without flattening them. His cost was fixed in advance: the Jews had agreed already that anyone confessing Christ should be put out of the synagogue. That took his worship, his community and his standing at once, and his own parents handed him over, he is of age; ask him. Yours is cheaper, and saying so is not an insult. So the question is smaller than his, and still a question. What is the one thing you know, in the sense he meant it, and when did you last say it out loud without padding it with the parts you do not know?
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 216 is Filled with Goodness (Psalm 107:9).