John 9

The Man Born Blind

1As he was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “Neither this man sinned nor his parents. It happened so that the works of God might be made visible in him. 4While it is day, we must do the works of the one who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6Having said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the man’s eyes. 7Then he told him, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam” — a name that means “Sent.” So he went and washed, and he came back seeing. 8His neighbors, and those who had seen him begging before, said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some said, “It is him.” Others said, “No, he just looks like him.” He himself kept saying, “I am the man.” 10So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He answered, “The man they call Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I could see.” 12“Where is he?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he said.

The Blind Man Questioned

13They took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14Now the day Jesus had made the mud and opened his eyes was the Sabbath. 15So the Pharisees, in their turn, asked him how he had received his sight. He told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner do signs like these?” And they were divided. 17So they turned to the blind man again: “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.” 18The Jews still refused to believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man who now saw 19and asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? Then how is it that he now sees?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind. 21But how it is that he now sees, we don’t know; nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him — he is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed him as the Christ would be expelled from the synagogue. 23That is why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind, and they told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25He answered, “Whether he is a sinner, I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.” 26They asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?” 28Then they turned on him with insults: “You are that man’s disciple; we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses; but this man — we don’t even know where he is from.” 30The man answered them, “Well, that is the astonishing thing: you don’t know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners; but if someone reveres God and does his will, God listens to him. 32Never in all time has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born steeped in sin, and you presume to teach us?” And they threw him out.

The Blindness of Those Who See

35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him: he is the one talking with you.” 38“I believe, Lord,” he said, and he fell down before him in worship. 39Then Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40Some Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “We are not blind too, are we?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”