Jesus Heals a Blind Man

As Jesus went 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?'

'Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.'

After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes. 'Go,' he told him, 'wash in the Pool of Siloam.' So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

His neighbors and those who had seen him begging asked, 'Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?' Some claimed that he was, others said, 'No, he only looks like him.' But he insisted, 'I am the man.'

They brought him to the Pharisees, who questioned him repeatedly. The man answered simply: 'One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!'

The Pharisees threw him out. Jesus found him and asked, 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?'

'Who is he, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him.'

Jesus said, 'You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.'

Then the man said, 'Lord, I believe,' and he worshiped him.

The blind man's simple testimony—'I was blind but now I see'—could not be argued away. Physical blindness became a picture of spiritual blindness. The religious leaders who claimed to see were actually blind; the blind man who received sight truly saw.