Sunday, March 7, 2027

¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion. ²On the willows in that land, we hung up our harps. ³For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” ⁴How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? ⁵If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill. ⁶Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don’t remember you, if I don’t prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

⁴But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; ⁸for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not of works, that no one would boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

¹As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him. ⁴I must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, ⁷and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing. ⁸Therefore the neighbors and those who saw that he was blind before said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?” ⁹Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.” He said, “I am he.” ¹⁰They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?” ¹¹He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.” ¹²Then they asked him, “Where is he?” He said, “I don’t know.” ¹³They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴It was a Sabbath when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.” ¹⁶Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” So there was division among them. ¹⁷Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” ¹⁸The Jews therefore didn’t believe concerning him, that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹but how he now sees, we don’t know; or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” ²²His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. ²³Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.” ²⁴So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵He therefore answered, “I don’t know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.” ²⁶They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t also want to become his disciples, do you?” ²⁸They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.” ³⁰The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, he listens to him. ³²Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” Then they threw him out. ³⁵Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” ³⁶He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷Jesus said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who speaks with you.” ³⁸He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him. ³⁹Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” ⁴¹Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.