The Jews are sincere in their question. The healing of the man blind from birth had made a big impression on them, for they remembered it though it had happened three months ago (John 9:6,7). These Jews were confident in the power of Jesus to have healed Lazarus as were Martha (verse #21) and Mary (verse #32), but like the two sisters, they did not consider the resurrection of Lazarus to be a possibility.

John 9:6  Having said this, he spat on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.

John 9:7  “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

John 11:21  “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

John 11:32  When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”