22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. (John 9:22-23 KJV)
Thomas Scott
Verses 22-23: Expulsion from the synagogue was a sort of excommunication, attended with many civil penalties and inconveniences.—We may account for the parents of the man declining to say any thing which might bring them into danger of so heavy a punishment; but their conduct cannot be excused, considering their obligations to Jesus, and the sensible evidence which they had of his power to protect and do them good.—Was the Christ, (Joh 9:22). ‘Hence it appears, that though our Lord was cautious of professing himself to be the Christ in express terms, yet many understood the intimation he gave; and also that the parents, and indeed the Sanhedrim, knew who it was that opened this man’s eyes; though he himself was hitherto a stranger to him, and was not yet acquainted with the dignity of his person.’—Doddridge.