John
As Jesus was passing by he noticed a man blind from birth.
His disciples
questioned him: “Rabbi, who was it who sinned, this man or his parents, to
cause him to be born blind?”
Jesus answered, “Neither this man or his
parents sinned. This blindness came about so that God’s works might be
displayed in him.
We are required to do the works of the One who
commissioned me while it is still day. Night is coming when no one can
work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
After
making these remarks he spat on the ground, made some mud from the saliva
and spread the mud on the blind man’s eyes.
Then he said to him, “Go and
wash in the pool of Siloam” (which translated means “commissioned”). So he
left, washed and came back seeing.
His neighbors and those who had earlier seen him as a beggar said, “Is this the man who used to be
sitting begging?”
Some said, “Yes, he is the one.” Others were saying, “No,
but he does look like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one!”
So they
asked him, “Then how do you now see?”
He answered, “The
man called Jesus made some mud, spread it on my eyes and told me to go to
Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and now I can see.”
They
asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees.
The day
that Jesus had made mud and opened the blind man’s eyes was the Sabbath.
So again the Pharisees were asking him how he received his sight. He
explained to them, “He put mud on my eyes. I washed and now I can see.”
Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This man cannot be from God: he is
not keeping the Sabbath!” But others were saying, “How can a sinful man
perform signs like this?” And so there was a division among them.
Again they asked the blind man, “What do you say about him since he was able to give you your sight?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews were not willing to believe this about him — that he had been
blind and had received his sight — until they summoned the parents of the
man who had regained his sight.
They asked them, “Is this your son, the one
you claim was born blind? How is he able to see now?”
His parents
answered, “We know this is our son and we know he was born blind,
but we
do not understand how he is now able to see, and we do not know who gave
him sight. Why not ask him yourselves? He is an adult. He can
speak for himself.”
They said these things because they were scared of the
Jews, since the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Jesus as
Messiah he would be banned from attending the synagogue.
That is why his
parents said, “He is an adult; ask him.”
So they summoned the formerly blind man a second time and said to
him, “Give glory to God by telling the truth. We know that this man is a sinner!”
He answered,
“Whether or not he is a sinner, I have no idea. One thing I do know is that I
was blind and now I can see!”
Then they asked him, “What did he do
to you? How did he give you sight?”
He said, “I already told you, and you
did not listen. Why do you want me to tell you again? Are you perhaps
wanting to become his disciples?”
They ridiculed him. “You must be that man’s disciple, but we are the disciples of Moses.
We know that God has
spoken to Moses. But this man, we have no idea where he is from.”
The
man replied, “This is an amazing thing. You do not know where he is from,
yet he was able to give me my sight!
We know that God does not
listen to sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does God’s will, God does
listen to him.
Throughout history no one has ever heard of someone giving sight to a person born blind.
If this man were not from God, he would
not be able to do anything.”
They replied, “You were a sinner from birth,
and you are trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.
When Jesus heard that they had expelled the man, he found him and
asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
He asked, “Who is he, sir,
so that I can believe in him?”
Jesus replied, “You have seen the Son of
Man; in fact he is the one speaking to you now.”
He said, “I do believe, sir,”
and he bowed before him in deep respect.
Jesus said, “I was born into the world for
judgment, in order that those who do not see may see, and those who see
may become blind.”
Some of the Pharisees were with him and heard this. They asked him, “We are not blind too, are we?”
Jesus said to them,
“If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But because you say that you can see, your sin remains.”
John