V. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
When Jesus asks the man this, the man doesn’t know who Jesus is, but the man would know that Jesus was a Rabbi (other people approached Him and called Him Rabbi or teacher) but He is questioning the man outside the synagogue and after the man’s sentencing and exclusion. At this point it seems that the man is free from worrying about being caught or accused–he has nothing to lose. I wonder if Jesus knew that as long as the blind man staying in that setting, he would not be His disciple. Once the man is ‘freed’ from the synagogue, he no longer refers to Jesus as a prophet, like he did before the court, but says he’ll believe in the Son of Man if he can see who He is.
I think this question by Jesus was a defining moment, where Jesus was feeling the man out. It was a heart check version of “What are you going to do now?” After all of the questioning and probing, the man did not begin to think, “Maybe it was just a coincidence, or maybe that guy healed me is a sinner because he made mud.” He did not waver in unbelief about the power of the man that healed him.
I know in the present time, when a miracle occurs, people begin to ask questions, be skeptical, and look for a logical and scientific explanation (I’m talking about church people here) and after a while the person telling the tale can begin to explain the events in such a way that shows that God did not have to intervene. This man did not go down that road. Jesus gave him a moment to decide if he was going to stick with his faith in his Healer or recant, and when the man stuck with Jesus, Jesus stuck with Him.
