Knox Bible

1

And Jesus saw, as he passed on his way, a man who had been blind from his birth.

2

Whereupon his disciples asked him, Master, was this man guilty of sin, or was it his parents, that he should have been born blind?✻

The disciples may not have known that the man was born blind; and Greek may be interpreted as meaning, ‘Did this man sin (and go blind)? Or did his parents commit some sin, with the consequence that he was born blind?’.

3

Neither he nor his parents were guilty, Jesus answered; it was so that God’s action might declare itself in him.

4

While daylight lasts, I must work in the service of him who sent me; the night is coming, when there is no working any more.✻

The best Greek manuscripts read, ‘we must work’, not ‘I must work’. If this reading is genuine, we must suppose that our Lord here associates his disciples with his own ministry; and indeed, he told them that they were the light of the world (Mt. 5.14).

5

As long as I am in the world, I am the world’s light.

6

With that, he spat on the ground, and made clay with the spittle; then he spread the clay on the man’s eyes,

7

and said to him, Away with thee, and wash in the pool of Siloe (a word which means, Sent out). So he went and washed there, and came back with his sight restored.

8

And now the neighbours, and those who had been accustomed to see him begging, began to say, Is not this the man who used to sit here and beg? Some said, This is the man;

9

and others, No, but he looks like him. And he told them, Yes, I am the man.

10

How is it, then, they asked him, that thy eyes have been opened?

11

He answered, A man called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes with it, and said to me, Away with thee to the pool of Siloe and wash there. So I went there, and washed, and recovered my sight.

12

Where is he? they asked; and he said, I cannot tell.

13

And they brought him before the Pharisees, this man who had once been blind.

14

It was a sabbath day, you must know, when Jesus made clay and opened his eyes.

15

And so the Pharisees in their turn asked him how he had recovered his sight. Why, he said, he put clay on my eyes; and then I washed, and now I can see.

16

Whereupon some of the Pharisees said, This man can be no messenger from God; he does not observe the sabbath. Others asked, How can a man do miracles like this, and be a sinner? Thus there was a division of opinion among them.

17

And now they questioned the blind man again, What account dost thou give of him, that he should thus have opened thy eyes? Why, he said, he must be a prophet.

18

The Jews must send for the parents of the man who had recovered his sight, before they would believe his story that he had been blind, and that he had had his sight restored to him.

19

And they questioned them, Is this your son, who, you say, was born blind? How comes it, then, that he is now able to see?

20

His parents answered them, We can tell you that this is our son, and that he was blind when he was born;

21

we cannot tell how he is able to see now; we have no means of knowing who opened his eyes for him. Ask the man himself; he is of age; let him tell you his own story.

22

It was fear of the Jews that made his parents talk in this way; the Jews had by now come to an agreement that anyone who acknowledged Jesus as the Christ should be forbidden the synagogue;

23

that was why his parents said, He is of age, ask him himself.

24

So once more they summoned the man who had been blind. Give God the praise, they said; this man, to our knowledge, is a sinner.

25

Sinner or not, said the other, I cannot tell; all I know is that once I was blind, and now I can see.

26

Then they asked him over again, What was it he did to thee? By what means did he open thy eyes?

27

And he answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen to me. Why must you hear it over again? Would you too become his disciples?

28

Upon this, they covered him with abuse; Keep his discipleship for thyself, we are disciples of Moses.

29

We know for certain that God spoke to Moses; we know nothing of this man, or whence he comes.

30

Why, the man answered, here is matter for astonishment; here is a man that comes you cannot tell whence, and he has opened my eyes.

31

And yet we know for certain that God does not answer the prayers of sinners, it is only when a man is devout and does his will, that his prayer is answered.

32

That a man should open the eyes of one born blind is something unheard of since the world began.

33

No, if this man did not come from God, he would have no powers at all.

34

What, they answered, are we to have lessons from thee, all steeped in sin from thy birth? And they cast him out from their presence.

35

When Jesus heard that they had so cast him out, he went to find him, and asked him, Dost thou believe in the Son of God?✻

‘The Son of God’; some Greek manuscripts read, ‘The Son of Man’, but it is clear from the context that, whichever title he used, our Lord was here identifying himself as the Christ.

36

Tell me who he is, Lord, he answered, so that I can believe in him.

37

He is one whom thou hast seen, Jesus told him. It is he who is speaking to thee.

38

Then he said, I do believe, Lord, and fell down to worship him.

39

Hereupon Jesus said, I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind.✻

Our Lord’s meaning (if we interpret it by verse 41 below) seems to be, that his coming into the world has the effect of enlightening those humble souls which are conscious of their own ignorance, and at the same time of involving those who think themselves wise and prudent (Mt. 11.25) in worse blindness than ever. Cf. Apoc. 3.17, 18.

40

Some of the Pharisees heard this, such as were in his company, and they asked him, Are we blind too?

41

If you were blind, Jesus told them, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, We can see clearly, that you cannot be rid of your guilt.