Friday
Read John 9:1-41
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man
who had been born blind. 2His disciples asked him, “Teacher, whose
sin caused him to be born blind? Was it his own or his parents’ sin?”
3 Jesus answered, “His blindness has
nothing to do with his sins or his parents’ sins. He is blind so that God’s
power might be seen at work in him. 4As long as it is day, we must
keep on doing the work of him who sent me; night is coming when no one can
work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light for the world.”
6 After he said this, Jesus spat on
the ground and made some mud with the spittle; he rubbed the mud on the man’s
eyes 7and said, “Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam.” (This
name means “Sent”.) So the man went, washed his face, and came back seeing.
8
His neighbours, then, and the people who
had seen him begging before this, asked, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit
and beg?” 9Some said, “He is the one,” but others said, “No he
isn’t; he just looks like him.” So the man himself said, “I am the man.”
10 “How is it that you can now see?”
they asked him.
11 He answered, “The man called
Jesus made some mud, rubbed it on my eyes, and told me to go to Siloam and wash
my face. So I went, and as soon as I washed, I could see.”
12 “Where is he?” they asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered.
13 Then they took to the Pharisees
the man who had been blind. 14The day that Jesus made the mud and
cured him of his blindness was a Sabbath. 15The Pharisees, then,
asked the man again how he had received his sight. He told them, “He put some
mud on my eyes; I washed my face, and now I can see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “The
man who did this cannot be from God, for he does not obey the Sabbath law.”
Others, however, said, “How could a man
who is a sinner perform such miracles as these?” And there was a division among
them.
17 So the Pharisees asked the man
once more, “You say he cured you of your blindness—well, what do you say about
him?”
“He is a prophet,” the man answered.
18 The Jewish authorities, however,
were not willing to believe that he had been blind and could now see, until
they called his parents 19and asked them, “Is this your son? You say
that he was born blind; how is it, then, that he can now see?”
20 His parents answered, “We know
that he is our son, and we know that he was born blind. 21But we do
not know how it is that he is now able to see, nor do we know who cured him of
his blindness. Ask him; he is old enough, and he can answer for himself!” 22His
parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, who had
already agreed that anyone who said he believed that Jesus was the Messiah
would be expelled from the synagogue. 23That is why his parents
said, “He is old enough; ask him!”
24 A second time they called back
the man who had been born blind, and said to him, “Promise before God that you
will tell the truth! We know that this man who cured you is a sinner.”
25 “I do not know if he is a sinner
or not,” the man replied. “One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”
26 “What did he do to you?” they
asked. “How did he cure you of your blindness?”
27 “I have already told you,” he
answered, “and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe
you, too, would like to be his disciples?”
28 They cursed him and said, “You
are that fellow’s disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. 29We know
that God spoke to Moses; as for that fellow, however, we do not even know where
he comes from!”
30 The man answered, “What a strange
thing that is! You do not know where he comes from, but he cured me of my
blindness! 31We know that God does not listen to sinners; he does
listen to people who respect him and do what he wants them to do. 32Since
the beginning of the world nobody has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a
person born blind. 33Unless this man came from God, he would not be
able to do a thing.”
34 They answered, “You were born and
brought up in sin—and you are trying to teach us?” And they expelled him from
the synagogue.
35 When Jesus heard what had
happened, he found the man and asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 The man answered, “Tell me who he
is, sir, so that I can believe in him!”
37 Jesus said to him, “You have
already seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you now.”
38 “I believe, Lord!” the man said,
and knelt down before Jesus.
39 Jesus said, “I came to this world
to judge, so that the blind should see and those who see should become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were there
with him heard him say this and asked him, “Surely you don’t mean that we are
blind, too?”
41 Jesus answered, “If you were
blind, then you would not be guilty; but since you claim that you can see, this
means that you are still guilty.”
Think
Jesus heals a man born blind. The
religious authorities are scandalized...
Not included in this reading is chapter 10 - Jesus explains to us that
he is the only gate keeper.
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