New Testament in a Year

Jesus makes a blind man able to see

9 While Jesus was walking along, he saw a certain man. This man had been blind since he was born. ² Jesus' disciples asked him, ‘Teacher, why was this man blind when he was born? Was it because he himself did something wrong? Or was it because his parents did something wrong?’ ³ Jesus answered, ‘It was not because either this man or his parents did something wrong. It happened so that God could show his great work in this man. ⁴ While it is still day, we must continue to work. God has sent me and we must do his work. We must work now because it will be night soon. Then nobody can work. ⁵ While I am still here in the world, I am the world's light.’

⁶ When Jesus had finished speaking, he spat on the ground. He mixed it with dirt on the ground so that he made mud. Then he put some of the mud on the eyes of the blind man. ⁷ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and wash in the Siloam pool.’ (The name Siloam means ‘Sent’.) So the man went there and he washed himself. When he returned, now he could see.

⁸ People began to talk about him. Some of these people lived near him. Others had seen him when he was asking for money. They said, ‘This is the man who sat here. He asked people to give him money. Isn't that right?’ ⁹ Some people said, ‘Yes, it is him.’ But other people said, ‘No, it is someone who seems to be like him.’ But the man himself said, ‘I am that man.’

¹⁰ They asked him, ‘How did your eyes now become able to see?’ ¹¹ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made some mud. He put the mud on my eyes. Then he sent me to wash in the Siloam pool. So I went there and I washed. Then I could see.’

¹² They asked him, ‘Where is this man?’ He replied, ‘I do not know.’

The Pharisees talk to the man who had been blind

¹³ The people brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ It was a Jewish day of rest when Jesus had done this miracle. He had used mud to make the man's eyes able to see. ¹⁵ So the Pharisees asked the man again, ‘How did you become able to see?’ The man replied, ‘Jesus put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I can see.’

¹⁶ So some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man Jesus cannot have come from God. He does not obey the rules about our day of rest.’ But other Pharisees said, ‘Nobody who is bad could do great things like this!’ So they did not agree with each other. ¹⁷ The Pharisees spoke again to the man who had been blind. They said to him, ‘What do you yourself say about this man? It was your eyes he has now made able to see.’ The man replied, ‘He is a prophet.’

¹⁸ The Jewish leaders still did not believe that the man had really been blind. They did not want to believe that he had now become able to see. So they told the man's parents to come to them. ¹⁹ They asked the parents, ‘Is this your son? You say, “When he was born, he was blind.” But now he can see. How did this happen?’ ²⁰ The parents replied, ‘We know that this is our son. And when he was born, he was blind. We know that, too. ²¹ But we do not know how he can see now. We do not know who made his eyes able to see. Ask him. He is old enough to answer you for himself!’ ²² The man's parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. The Jewish leaders did not want anyone to say that Jesus was the Messiah. They would not let anyone like that belong to their meeting places. ²³ That is why the man's parents said, ‘Ask him. He is old enough.’