Shared Word Translation
John 9
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; rather, he was born blind so that the works of God might be revealed in him. We must work the works of the one who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
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, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see.
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?”
Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.”
He kept saying, “I am the man.”
But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”
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.”
They said to him, “Where is he?”
He said, “I do not know.”
The Pharisees Investigate the Healing
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 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.”
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the sabbath.”
But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?”
And there was a division among them.
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.”
The authorities did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the one who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the authorities; for the authorities had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
The Healed Man’s Testimony
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.” He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 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?”
Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”
The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does God’s will, God listens to that one.
Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind.
If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?”
And they drove him out.
Spiritual Blindness
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” And he said, “I believe, Lord.” And he worshiped him.
And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and said to him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now you say, ‘We see.’ Your sin remains.”