Book of Common Prayer
The Word of Life
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have gazed at, and our hands have handled—concerning the Word of Life! 2 That life was displayed, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and we announce to you the life of God’s coming age, which was with the father and was displayed to us. 3 That which we have seen and heard, we announce to you too, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the father, and with his son Jesus the Messiah. 4 We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
God’s light and our darkness
5 This is the message which we have heard from him, and announce to you: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the dark, we are telling lies, and not doing what is true. 7 But if we walk in the light, just as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his son makes us pure and clean from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us.
The man born blind
9 As Jesus was going along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.
2 “Teacher,” his disciples asked him, “whose sin was it that caused this man to be born blind? Did he sin, or did his parents?”
3 “He didn’t sin,” replied Jesus, “nor did his parents. It happened so that God’s works could be seen in him. 4 We must work the works of the one who sent me as long as it’s still daytime. The night is coming, and nobody can work then! 5 As long as I’m in the world, I’m the light of the world.”
6 With these words, he spat on the ground, and made some mud out of his spittle. He spread the mud on the man’s eyes.
7 “Off you go,” he said to him, “and wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “sent”). So he went off and washed. When he came back, he could see.
8 His neighbors, and the people who used to see him begging, remarked on this.
“Isn’t this the man,” they said, “who used to sit here and beg?”
9 “Yes, it’s him!” said some of them.
“No, it isn’t!” said some others. “It’s somebody like him.”
But the man himself spoke.
“Yes, it’s me,” he said.
10 “Well, then,” they said to him, “how did your eyes get opened?”
11 “It was the man called Jesus!” he replied. “He made some mud, then he spread it on my eyes, and told me to 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 replied.
The blind man’s parents
13 They took the man who had been blind and brought him to the Pharisees. 14 (The day Jesus had made the mud, and opened his eyes, was a sabbath.) 15 So the Pharisees began to ask him again how he had come to see.
“He put some mud on my eyes,” he said, “and I washed, and now I can see!”
16 “The man can’t be from God,” some of the Pharisees began to say. “He doesn’t keep the sabbath!”
“Well, but,” replied some of the others, “how can a man who is a sinner do signs like these?”
And they were divided.
17 So they spoke to the blind man again.
“What have you got to say about him?” they asked. “He opened your eyes, after all.”
“He’s a prophet,” he replied.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.