John 9:35–10:21

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?”