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As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind.
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His disciples asked him, "Teacher, whose sin caused him to be born blind? Was it his own or his parents' sin?"
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Jesus answered, "His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents' sins. He is blind so that God's power might be seen at work in him.
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As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me; night is coming when no one can work.
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While I am in the world, I am the light for the world."
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After he said this, Jesus spat on the ground and made some mud with the spittle; he rubbed the mud on the man's eyes
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and told him, "Go and wash your face in the Pool of Siloam." (This name means "Sent.") So the man went, washed his face, and came back seeing.
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His neighbors, then, and the people who had seen him begging before this, asked, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"
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Some said, "He is the one," but others said, "No he isn't; he just looks like him." So the man himself said, "I am the man."
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"How is it that you can now see?" they asked him.
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He answered, "The man called Jesus made some mud, rubbed it on my eyes, and told me to go to Siloam and wash my face. So I went, and as soon as I washed, I could see."
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"Where is he?" they asked. "I don't know," he answered.
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Then they took to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
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The day that Jesus made the mud and cured him of his blindness was a Sabbath.
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The Pharisees, then, asked the man again how he had received his sight. He told them, "He put some mud on my eyes; I washed my face, and now I can see."
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Some of the Pharisees said, "The man who did this cannot be from God, for he does not obey the Sabbath law." Others, however, said, "How could a man who is a sinner perform such miracles as these?" And there was a division among them.
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So the Pharisees asked the man once more, "You say he cured you of your blindness---well, what do you say about him?" "He is a prophet," the man answered.
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The Jewish authorities, however, were not willing to believe that he had been blind and could now see, until they called his parents
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and asked them, "Is this your son? You say that he was born blind; how is it, then, that he can now see?"
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His parents answered, "We know that he is our son, and we know that he was born blind.
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But we do not know how it is that he is now able to see, nor do we know who cured him of his blindness. Ask him; he is old enough, and he can answer for himself !"
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His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, who had already agreed that anyone who said he believed that Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.
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That is why his parents said, "He is old enough; ask him!"
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A second time they called back the man who had been born blind, and said to him, "Promise before God that you will tell the truth! We know that this man who cured you is a sinner."
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"I do not know if he is a sinner or not," the man replied. "One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see."
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"What did he do to you?" they asked. "How did he cure you of your blindness?"
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"I have already told you," he answered, "and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you, too, would like to be his disciples?"
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They insulted him and said, "You are that fellow's disciple; but we are Moses' disciples.
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We know that God spoke to Moses; as for that fellow, however, we do not even know where he comes from!"
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The man answered, "What a strange thing that is! You do not know where he comes from, but he cured me of my blindness!
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We know that God does not listen to sinners; he does listen to people who respect him and do what he wants them to do.
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Since the beginning of the world nobody has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a person born blind.
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Unless this man came from God, he would not be able to do a thing."
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They answered, "You were born and brought up in sin---and you are trying to teach us?" And they expelled him from the synagogue.
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When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
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The man answered, "Tell me who he is, sir, so that I can believe in him!"
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Jesus said to him, "You have already seen him, and he is the one who is talking with you now."
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"I believe, Lord!" the man said, and knelt down before Jesus.
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Jesus said, "I came to this world to judge, so that the blind should see and those who see should become blind."
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Some Pharisees who were there with him heard him say this and asked him, "Surely you don't mean that we are blind, too?"
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Jesus answered, "If you were blind, then you would not be guilty; but since you claim that you can see, this means that you are still guilty."
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Jesus said, "I am telling you the truth: the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
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The man who goes in through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
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The gatekeeper opens the gate for him; the sheep hear his voice as he calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out.
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When he has brought them out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice.
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They will not follow someone else; instead, they will run away from such a person, because they do not know his voice."
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Jesus told them this parable, but they did not understand what he meant.
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So Jesus said again, "I am telling you the truth: I am the gate for the sheep.
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All others who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
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I am the gate. Those who come in by me will be saved; they will come in and go out and find pasture.
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The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life---life in all its fullness.
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"I am the good shepherd, who is willing to die for the sheep.
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When the hired man, who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees a wolf coming, he leaves the sheep and runs away; so the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them.
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The hired man runs away because he is only a hired man and does not care about the sheep.
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I am the good shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me. And I am willing to die for them.
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There are other sheep which belong to me that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them, too; they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd.
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"The Father loves me because I am willing to give up my life, in order that I may receive it back again.
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No one takes my life away from me. I give it up of my own free will. I have the right to give it up, and I have the right to take it back. This is what my Father has commanded me to do."
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Again there was a division among the people because of these words.
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Many of them were saying, "He has a demon! He is crazy! Why do you listen to him?"
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But others were saying, "A man with a demon could not talk like this! How could a demon give sight to blind people?"
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It was winter, and the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple was being celebrated in Jerusalem.
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Jesus was walking in Solomon's Porch in the Temple,
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when the people gathered around him and asked, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us the plain truth: are you the Messiah?"
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Jesus answered, "I have already told you, but you would not believe me. The deeds I do by my Father's authority speak on my behalf;
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but you will not believe, for you are not my sheep.
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My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
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I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me.
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What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father's care.
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The Father and I are one."
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Then the people again picked up stones to throw at him.
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Jesus said to them, "I have done many good deeds in your presence which the Father gave me to do; for which one of these do you want to stone me?"
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They answered, "We do not want to stone you because of any good deeds, but because of your blasphemy! You are only a man, but you are trying to make yourself God!"
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Jesus answered, "It is written in your own Law that God said, 'You are gods.'
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We know that what the scripture says is true forever; and God called those people gods, the people to whom his message was given.
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As for me, the Father chose me and sent me into the world. How, then, can you say that I blaspheme because I said that I am the Son of God?
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Do not believe me, then, if I am not doing the things my Father wants me to do.
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But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, you should at least believe my deeds, in order that you may know once and for all that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father."
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Once more they tried to seize Jesus, but he slipped out of their hands.
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Jesus then went back again across the Jordan River to the place where John had been baptizing, and he stayed there.
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Many people came to him. "John performed no miracles," they said, "but everything he said about this man was true."
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And many people there believed in him.
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A man named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, became sick. Bethany was the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived.
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(This Mary was the one who poured the perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.)
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The sisters sent Jesus a message: "Lord, your dear friend is sick."
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When Jesus heard it, he said, "The final result of this sickness will not be the death of Lazarus; this has happened in order to bring glory to God, and it will be the means by which the Son of God will receive glory."
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Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
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Yet when he received the news that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.
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Then he said to the disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."
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"Teacher," the disciples answered, "just a short time ago the people there wanted to stone you; and are you planning to go back?"
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Jesus said, "A day has twelve hours, doesn't it? So those who walk in broad daylight do not stumble, for they see the light of this world.
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But if they walk during the night they stumble, because they have no light."
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Jesus said this and then added, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up."
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The disciples answered, "If he is asleep, Lord, he will get well."
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Jesus meant that Lazarus had died, but they thought he meant natural sleep.
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So Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead,
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but for your sake I am glad that I was not with him, so that you will believe. Let us go to him."
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Thomas (called the Twin) said to his fellow disciples, "Let us all go along with the Teacher, so that we may die with him!"
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When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days before.
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Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,
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and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother's death.
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When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house.
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Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died!
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But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask him for."
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"Your brother will rise to life," Jesus told her.
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"I know," she replied, "that he will rise to life on the last day."
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Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die;
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and those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
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"Yes, Lord!" she answered. "I do believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
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After Martha said this, she went back and called her sister Mary privately. "The Teacher is here," she told her, "and is asking for you."
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When Mary heard this, she got up and hurried out to meet him.
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(Jesus had not yet arrived in the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.)
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The people who were in the house with Mary comforting her followed her when they saw her get up and hurry out. They thought that she was going to the grave to weep there.
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Mary arrived where Jesus was, and as soon as she saw him, she fell at his feet. "Lord," she said, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died!"
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Jesus saw her weeping, and he saw how the people with her were weeping also; his heart was touched, and he was deeply moved.
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"Where have you buried him?" he asked them. "Come and see, Lord," they answered.
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"See how much he loved him!" the people said.
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But some of them said, "He gave sight to the blind man, didn't he? Could he not have kept Lazarus from dying?"
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Deeply moved once more, Jesus went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone placed at the entrance.
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"Take the stone away!" Jesus ordered. Martha, the dead man's sister, answered, "There will be a bad smell, Lord. He has been buried four days!"
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Jesus said to her, "Didn't I tell you that you would see God's glory if you believed?"
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They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, "I thank you, Father, that you listen to me.
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I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me."
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After he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"
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He came out, his hands and feet wrapped in grave cloths, and with a cloth around his face. "Untie him," Jesus told them, "and let him go."
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Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw what Jesus did, and they believed in him.
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But some of them returned to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
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So the Pharisees and the chief priests met with the Council and said, "What shall we do? Look at all the miracles this man is performing!
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If we let him go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our Temple and our nation!"
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One of them, named Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, said, "What fools you are!
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Don't you realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people, instead of having the whole nation destroyed?"
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Actually, he did not say this of his own accord; rather, as he was High Priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish people,
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and not only for them, but also to bring together into one body all the scattered people of God.
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From that day on the Jewish authorities made plans to kill Jesus.
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So Jesus did not travel openly in Judea, but left and went to a place near the desert, to a town named Ephraim, where he stayed with the disciples.
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The time for the Passover Festival was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to perform the ritual of purification before the festival.
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They were looking for Jesus, and as they gathered in the Temple, they asked one another, "What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?"
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The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must report it, so that they could arrest him.
