Passage: John 9, 10, 11 (RSV)


John 9


1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth.
2And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.
4We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day; night comes, when no one can work.
5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
6As he said this, he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man's eyes with the clay,
7saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Silo'am" (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?"
9Some said, "It is he"; others said, "No, but he is like him." He said, "I am the man."
10They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"
11He answered, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, `Go to Silo'am and wash'; so I went and washed and received my sight."
12They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."
13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind.
14Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.
15The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see."
16Some 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 do such signs?" There was a division among them.
17So they again said to the blind man, "What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."
18The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight,
19and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"
20His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;
21but 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."
22His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.
23Therefore his parents said, "He is of age, ask him."
24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, "Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner."
25He answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see."
26They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
27He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you too want to become his disciples?"
28And they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from."
30The man answered, "Why, this is a marvel! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.
31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.
32Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind.
33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
34They answered him, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And they cast him out.
35Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?"
36He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"
37Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you."
38He said, "Lord, I believe"; and he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind."
40Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, "Are we also blind?"
41Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, `We see,' your guilt remains.

John 10


1"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber;
2but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3To him the gatekeeper opens; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
5A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."
6This figure Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not heed them.
9I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12He who is a hireling and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep.
14I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,
15as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16And I have other sheep, that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice. So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.
17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.
18No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father."
19There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.
20Many of them said, "He has a demon, and he is mad; why listen to him?"
21Others said, "These are not the sayings of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
22It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem;
23it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.
24So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness to me;
26but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.
27My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;
28and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.
29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
30I and the Father are one."
31The Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?"
33The Jews answered him, "It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God."
34Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, `I said, you are gods'?
35If he called them gods to whom the word of God came (and scripture cannot be broken),
36do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, `You are blaspheming,' because I said, `I am the Son of God'?
37If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
38but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
39Again they tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
40He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John at first baptized, and there he remained.
41And many came to him; and they said, "John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true."
42And many believed in him there.

John 11


1Now a certain man was ill, Laz'arus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Laz'arus was ill.
3So the sisters sent to him, saying, "Lord, he whom you love is ill."
4But when Jesus heard it he said, "This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it."
5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Laz'arus.
6So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
7Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go into Judea again."
8The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?"
9Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
11Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, "Our friend Laz'arus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep."
12The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
13Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.
14Then Jesus told them plainly, "Laz'arus is dead;
15and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him."
16Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."
17Now when Jesus came, he found that Laz'arus had already been in the tomb four days.
18Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,
19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house.
21Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
26and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
27She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world."
28When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."
29And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.
30Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
31When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled;
34and he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."
35Jesus wept.
36So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
37But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"
38Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days."
40Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
41So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42I knew that thou hearest me always, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me."
43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Laz'arus, come out."
44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
45Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him;
46but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
48If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation."
49But one of them, Ca'iaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all;
50you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish."
51He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation,
52and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.
54Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called E'phraim; and there he stayed with the disciples.
55Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.
56They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"
57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if any one knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.



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