Peace and Security through Obedience

Restoration Promised after Exile

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith

²⁴ From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre.^[a] He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, ²⁵ but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. ²⁶ Now the woman was a gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered him, “Sir,^[b] even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” ²⁹ Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ And when she went home, she found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.

Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

³¹ Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. ³² They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.^{(A) 33} He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.^{(B) 34} Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”^{(C) 35} And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.^{(D) 36} Then Jesus^[c] ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.^{(E) 37} They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

A Man Born Blind Receives Sight

9 As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.^{(A) 4} We^[a] must work the works of him who sent me^[b] while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.^{(B) 5} As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”^{(C) 6} When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes,^{(D) 7} saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.^{(E) 8} The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am he.” ¹⁰ But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴ Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.^{(F) 15} Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided.^{(G) 17} So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”^(H)

¹⁸ The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind, ²¹ but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus^[c] to be the Messiah^[d] would be put out of the synagogue.^{(I) 23} Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”^{(J) 25} He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” ²⁸ Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.^{(K) 29} We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”^{(L) 30} The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will.^{(M) 32} Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.

Spiritual Blindness

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”^{[e](N) 36} He answered, “And who is he, sir?^[f] Tell me, so that I may believe in him.”^{(O) 37} Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”^{(P) 38} He said, “Lord,^[g] I believe.” And he worshiped him. ³⁹ Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.”^{(Q) 40} Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?”^{(R) 41} Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.^(S)