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A Testimony Of The Gospel

When Jesus had made the midday prayer, as he went out of the Temple, he found one blind from his mother's womb. His disciples asked him saying, "Master, who sinned in this man, his father or his mother that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither his father nor his mother sinned in him, but God created him so, for a testimony of the Gospel."

Then having called the blind man up to him he spat on the ground, made clay, and placed it upon the eyes of the blind man and said to him, "Go to the pool of Siloam and wash yourself!"

The blind man went, and having washed received light. Whereupon, as he returned home, many who met him said, "If this man were blind, I should say for certain that it was he who used to sit at the beautiful gate of the Temple." Others said, "It is him, but how has he received light?" They accosted him saying, "Are you the blind man who used to sit at the beautiful gate of the Temple?" He answered, "I am him." They said, "Now how did you receive your sight?" He answered, "A man made clay, spitting on the ground, and this clay he placed upon my eyes and said to me, 'Go and wash yourself in the pool of Siloam.' I went and washed, and now I see. Blessed be the God of Israel!"

When this man came again to the beautiful gate of the Temple, all Jerusalem was filled with the matter. Therefore, he was brought to the chief of the priests, who was conferring with the priests and the Pharisees against Jesus. The high priest asked him, saying, "Man, were you born blind?" "Yes," he replied. The high priest said, "Now tell us what prophet has appeared to you in a dream and given you light. Was it our father Abraham; or Moses, the servant of God, or some other prophets? For others could not do such a thing."

The man replied, "Neither Abraham nor Moses, nor any prophet have I seen in a dream and been healed by him. However, as I sat at the gate of the Temple, a man made me come near to him and having made clay of earth with his spittle, put some of that clay upon my eyes and sent me to the pool of Siloam to wash. Whereupon, I went and washed myself, and returned with the light of my eyes."

The high priest asked him the name of that man. The born blind man answered, "He did not tell me his name, but a man who saw him called me and said, "Go and wash yourself as that man has said, for he is Jesus the Nazarene, a prophet and a holy one of the God of Israel."'

Then the high priest said, "Did he heal you perhaps today that is the Sabbath?" The blind man answered, "Today he healed me." The high priest said, "Behold now, how that this fellow is a sinner, seeing he does not keep the Sabbath!" The blind man answered, "Whether he is a sinner, I do not know; but this I know that whereas I was blind, he has enlightened me."

The Pharisees did not believe this, so they said to the high priest, "Send for his father and mother, for they will tell us the truth." They sent therefore, for the father and mother of the blind man, and when they came, the high priest questioned them saying, "Is this man your son?" They answered, "He is truly our son." Then said the high priest, "He says that he was born blind, and now he sees; how has this thing befallen?" The father and mother of the man replied, "Truly, he was born blind, but how he may have received the light, we do not know. He is of age; ask him and he will tell you the truth."

Thereupon, they were dismissed, and the high priest said again to the born blind man, "Give glory to God, and speak the truth, for we know this man, whom you say to have healed you, is a sinner." The man answered, "Whether he be a sinner, I do not know; but this I know, that I did not see and he has enlightened me. Surely, from the beginning of the world to this hour, there has never yet been enlightened one who was born blind; and God would not hearken to sinners." The Pharisees said, "What did he do when enlightened you?"

The man marvelled at their unbelief, and said, "I have told you, and wherefore you ask me again? Would you also become his disciples?" The high priest then reviled him saying, "You were altogether born in sin, and would you teach us? Go and become the disciple of such a man! For we are disciples of Moses; and we know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know whence he is." They cast him out of the synagogue, forbidding him to make prayer with the clean among Israel.