New Testament in a Year

²⁴ So the leaders again spoke to the man who had been blind. They said to him, ‘In front of God, promise that you will speak only true things. We know that this man Jesus does not obey God.’ ²⁵ The man replied, ‘I do not know whether he obeys God or not. But I do know one thing: I was blind and now I can see.’ ²⁶ Then they asked him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he make your eyes able to see?’ ²⁷ He answered them, ‘I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you want to become his disciples too!’ ²⁸ Then the leaders were very angry with him. They shouted at him, ‘No, it is you! You are that man's disciple. But we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses. But who is this man? We do not even know where he comes from.’

³⁰ The man answered, ‘That is a very strange thing! You do not know where this man comes from. But he is the one who made my eyes able to see. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to people who do not obey him. But he does listen to good people who do what he wants them to do. ³² Nobody has ever made the eyes of a blind man able to see, if that man had been blind when he was born. Since the world began, that has never happened! ³³ So this man Jesus must have come from God. Unless he came from God, he could not do anything like that.’

³⁴ The Jewish leaders answered him, ‘Since the day that you were born, you have never obeyed God's laws. You cannot teach us anything!’ And they threw him out of the meeting place.

People who do not believe in God are like blind people

³⁵ Jesus heard that the Jewish leaders had thrown the man out. So he went and he found the man. Jesus asked him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ³⁶ The man answered, ‘Sir, please tell me who he is. Then I can believe in him.’ ³⁷ Jesus said to him, ‘You have already seen him. It is me, the one who is talking to you now.’ ³⁸ Then the man said, ‘Lord, now I believe.’ He bent down on his knees and he worshipped Jesus.

³⁹ Then Jesus said, ‘I came into this world to judge people. Then people who know that they are blind will be able to see. And people who think they can see will become blind.’ ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees who were there with him heard this. They asked Jesus, ‘Do you mean that we are also blind?’ ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, God would not punish you for the wrong things you have done. But you say that you can see. You do wrong things with your eyes open, so God will punish you as guilty people.’