Book Order Plan

¹As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.

²“Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”

³“It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.

⁴We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.

⁵But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶Then he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud over the blind man’s eyes.

⁷He told him, “Go wash yourself in the pool of Siloam” (Siloam means “sent”). So the man went and washed and came back seeing!

⁸His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”

⁹Some said he was, and others said, “No, he just looks like him!” But the beggar kept saying, “Yes, I am the same one!”

¹⁰They asked, “Who healed you? What happened?”

¹¹He told them, “The man they call Jesus made mud and spread it over my eyes and told me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself.’ So I went and washed, and now I can see!”

¹²“Where is he now?” they asked. “I don’t know,” he replied.

¹³Then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees,

¹⁴because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him.

¹⁵The Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, “He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see!”

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them.

¹⁷Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded, “What’s your opinion about this man who healed you?” The man replied, “I think he must be a prophet.”

¹⁸The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents.

¹⁹They asked them, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see?”

²⁰His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind,

²¹but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.”

²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.

²³That’s why they said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

²⁴So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.”

²⁵“I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”

²⁶“But what did he do?” they asked. “How did he heal you?”

²⁷“Look!” the man exclaimed. “I told you once. Didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”

²⁸Then they cursed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses!

²⁹We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t even know where this man comes from.”

³⁰“Why, that’s very strange!” the man replied. “He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from?

³¹We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will.

³²Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of someone born blind.

³³If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it.”

³⁴“You were born a total sinner!” they answered. “Are you trying to teach us?” And they threw him out of the synagogue.

³⁵When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man? ”

³⁶The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.”

³⁷“You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!”

³⁸“Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.

³⁹Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment — to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.”

⁴⁰Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, “Are you saying we’re blind?”

⁴¹“If you were blind, you wouldn’t be guilty,” Jesus replied. “But you remain guilty because you claim you can see.

¹“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber!

²But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

⁴After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

⁵They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”

⁶Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant,

⁷so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.

⁸All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them.

⁹Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.

¹⁰The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

¹¹“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

¹²A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.

¹³The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep.

¹⁴“I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,

¹⁵just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.

¹⁶I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.

¹⁷“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again.

¹⁸No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”

¹⁹When he said these things, the people were again divided in their opinions about him.

²⁰Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?”

²¹Others said, “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

²²It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication.

²³He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade.

²⁴The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

²⁵Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name.

²⁶But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep.

²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

²⁸I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me,

²⁹for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.

³⁰The Father and I are one.”

³¹Once again the people picked up stones to kill him.

³²Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?”

³³They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.”

³⁴Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’

³⁵And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’

³⁶why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world.

³⁷Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work.

³⁸But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”

³⁹Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them.

⁴⁰He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile.

⁴¹And many followed him. “John didn’t perform miraculous signs,” they remarked to one another, “but everything he said about this man has come true.”

⁴²And many who were there believed in Jesus.