The Gospel for March 22nd 2020

Father Steve’s Gospel Reading from 3/22/2020

John Chapter 9

The Lord be with you.

And with your spirit.

The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to John.

Glory to you, lord.

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man born blind, and his disciples asked him, “Who has sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus said, “Neither he nor his parents have sinned. It is so that the work of God may be manifested through him. We must do the will of him who sent me, while it is still light. The darkness is coming, and then in the darkness, no one can work.” Then Jesus spit on the ground and with the saliva, he made a paste and he smeared the paste on the man’s eyes and he said to him, “Go now, and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” The man went and he washed, and he came back, able to see.

Now, his neighbors and some people who saw him day after day as a beggar said, “Is not this the man who was born blind, who we see begging?” And some said, “Yes it is he,” and others said, “No, it’s someone who looks like him,” but the man said, “I am the man.” They asked him, “Then how is it that you see?” He said to them, “This man named Jesus made a paste and smeared it on my eyes, and told me to wash in Siloam, and I went and I washed, and now I see.’ They asked, “Where is this Jesus?” And the man said, “I don’t know.”

Now, they brought the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. Jesus had made the clay, and had opened his eyes on the Sabbath. The Pharisees asked, “How is it that you now see?” And he said, “He put paste in my eyes, and he sent me to wash. I went to wash, and now I can see.” Now, some of the Pharisees said, “This man can’t be from God, because he has broken the Sabbath,” and others said, “How could someone do these signs without being of God?” And so, a dispute arose between them, and then they asked the man himself, “What do you say about this man? After all, it was your eyes that he opened,” and the man said, “He is a prophet.”

Now, the Pharisees were unwilling to believe that the man had been born blind, until they talked to his parents and they said to his parents, “Is this your son? Was he born blind? How is it that he now sees?” And the parents said, “Yes, this is our son, and yes, truly, he was born blind. But as to how he now sees and who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He’s old enough. He can speak for himself.” Now, they said this because they feared the Jews, and the Jews had already decided that anyone who confessed that Jesus is the Messiah would be thrown out of the synagogue. And so they said to him, “Ask him, he’s old enough. He can answer the questions.”

So a second time they brought the man before the Pharisees and the Pharisees said to him, “Stand and testify before God, for we know this man is a sinner.” He said, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner or not. I do know that I was blind and now I see,” and they said, “Well, tell us how did that happen? How did he open your eyes?” And he said, “I’ve already told you that once, and you weren’t listening to me. Why do you want to hear it a second time? Do you want to become his disciples?” Then they ridiculed the man and they said, “You are the one who is the disciple! We are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses. We don’t know where this man comes from.”

The man who had been born blind said, “I find this extraordinary that you do not know where this man comes from, and yet, he is the one who opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear the prayer of the sinner, but those who are devout and those who do God’s will, he listens to them. Never before in the history of the world, has anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.” They said to him, “You were born in total sin, and now you presume to teach us?” And with that, they expelled him from the synagogue.

Now, Jesus heard that he had been thrown out of the synagogue, and he went looking for him, and when he found him, he said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” And the man said to Jesus, “I do not know who he is. Tell me so that I can believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have seen him. In fact, he is the one who was speaking to you now.” The man said, “Lord, I do believe,” and he fell down before Jesus. Jesus said, “I have come into the world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who say they see, might become blind.”

Now, there were some Pharisees who were listening and they said to Jesus, “Certainly, you don’t call us blind, do you?” And Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would have no sin in you. But because you say we see, sin still remains in you.” The Gospel of the Lord.