John 9–10

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind. ²His followers asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind—his own sin or his parents’ sin?”

³Jesus answered, “It is not this man’s sin or his parents’ sin that made him blind. This man was born blind so that God’s power could be shown in him. ⁴While it is daytime, we must continue doing the work of the One who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶After Jesus said this, he spit on the ground and made some mud with it and put the mud on the man’s eyes. ⁷Then he told the man, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” (Siloam means Sent.) So the man went, washed, and came back seeing.

⁸The neighbors and some people who had earlier seen this man begging said, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”

⁹Some said, “He is the one,” but others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

The man himself said, “I am the man.”

¹⁰They asked, “How did you get your sight?”

¹¹He answered, “The man named Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹²They asked him, “Where is this man?”

“I don’t know,” he answered.

Pharisees Question the Healing

¹³Then the people took to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴The day Jesus had made mud and healed his eyes was a Sabbath day. ¹⁵So now the Pharisees asked the man, “How did you get your sight?”

He answered, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶So some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man does not keep the Sabbath day, so he is not from God.”

But others said, “A man who is a sinner can’t do miracles like these.” So they could not agree with each other.

¹⁷They asked the man again, “What do you say about him since it was your eyes he opened?”

The man answered, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸These leaders did not believe that he had been blind and could now see again. So they sent for the man’s parents ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?”

²⁰His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹But we don’t know how he can now see. We don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the elders, who had already decided that anyone who said Jesus was the Christ would be avoided. ²³That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

²⁴So for the second time, they called the man who had been blind. They said, “You should give God the glory by telling the truth. We know that this man is a sinner.”

²⁵He answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”

²⁶They asked, “What did he do to you? How did he make you see again?”

²⁷He answered, “I already told you, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his followers, too?”

²⁸Then they insulted him and said, “You are his follower, but we are followers of Moses. ²⁹We know that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”

³⁰The man answered, “This is a very strange thing. You don’t know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We all know that God does not listen to sinners, but he listens to anyone who worships and obeys him. ³²Nobody has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a man born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴They answered, “You were born full of sin! Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness

³⁵When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, Jesus found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶He asked, “Who is the Son of Man, sir, so that I can believe in him?”

³⁷Jesus said to him, “You have seen him. The Son of Man is the one talking with you.”

³⁸He said, “Lord, I believe!” Then the man worshiped Jesus.

³⁹Jesus said, “I came into this world so that the world could be judged. I came so that the blind ⁿ would see and so that those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees who were nearby heard Jesus say this and asked, “Are you saying we are blind, too?”

⁴¹Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But since you keep saying you see, your guilt remains.”

The Shepherd and His Sheep

10Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the person who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. ²The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³The one who guards the door opens it for him. And the sheep listen to the voice of the shepherd. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he brings all his sheep out, he goes ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. ⁵But they will never follow a stranger. They will run away from him because they don’t know his voice.” ⁶Jesus told the people this story, but they did not understand what it meant.

Jesus Is the Good Shepherd

⁷So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the door for the sheep. ⁸All the people who came before me were thieves and robbers. The sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the door, and the person who enters through me will be saved and will be able to come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came to give life—life in all its fullness.

¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. ¹²The worker who is paid to keep the sheep is different from the shepherd who owns them. When the worker sees a wolf coming, he runs away and leaves the sheep alone. Then the wolf attacks the sheep and scatters them. ¹³The man runs away because he is only a paid worker and does not really care about the sheep.

¹⁴“I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I give my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that are not in this flock, and I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷The Father loves me because I give my life so that I can take it back again. ¹⁸No one takes it away from me; I give my own life freely. I have the right to give my life, and I have the right to take it back. This is what my Father commanded me to do.”

¹⁹Again the leaders did not agree with each other because of these words of Jesus. ²⁰Many of them said, “A demon has come into him and made him crazy. Why listen to him?”

²¹But others said, “A man who is crazy with a demon does not say things like this. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Jesus Is Rejected

²²The time came for the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³and Jesus was walking in the Temple in Solomon’s Porch. ²⁴Some people gathered around him and said, “How long will you make us wonder about you? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

²⁵Jesus answered, “I told you already, but you did not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name show who I am. ²⁶But you don’t believe, because you are not my sheep. ²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never die, and no one can steal them out of my hand. ²⁹My Father gave my sheep to me. He is greater than all, and no person can steal my sheep out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰The Father and I are one.”

³¹Again some of the people picked up stones to kill Jesus. ³²But he said to them, “I have done many good works from the Father. Which of these good works are you killing me for?”

³³They answered, “We are not killing you because of any good work you did, but because you speak against God. You are only a human, but you say you are the same as God!”

³⁴Jesus answered, “It is written in your law that God said, ‘I said, you are gods.’ ^{n 35}This Scripture called those people gods who received God’s message, and Scripture is always true. ³⁶So why do you say that I speak against God because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? I am the one God chose and sent into the world. ³⁷If I don’t do what my Father does, then don’t believe me. ³⁸But if I do what my Father does, even though you don’t believe in me, believe what I do. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

³⁹They tried to take Jesus again, but he escaped from them.

⁴⁰Then he went back across the Jordan River to the place where John had first baptized. Jesus stayed there, ⁴¹and many people came to him and said, “John never did a miracle, but everything John said about this man is true.” ⁴²And in that place many believed in Jesus.