Wednesday, December 9

³⁷I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. But you want to kill me because my teaching makes no progress among you. ³⁸I am telling you the things I have seen while with the Father; as for you, practice the things you have heard from the Father!”

³⁹They answered him, “Abraham is our father!” Jesus replied, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would be doing the deeds of Abraham. ⁴⁰But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this!

⁴¹You people are doing the deeds of your father.”Then they said to Jesus, “We were not born as a result of immorality! We have only one Father, God himself.” ⁴²Jesus replied, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come from God and am now here. I have not come on my own initiative, but he sent me. ⁴³Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept my teaching. ⁴⁴You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature because he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵But because I am telling you the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶Who among you can prove me guilty of any sin? If I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷The one who belongs to God listens and responds to God’s words. You don’t listen and respond because you don’t belong to God.”

⁴⁸The Judeans replied, “Aren’t we correct in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed by a demon?” ⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I am not possessed by a demon, but I honor my Father—and yet you dishonor me. ⁵⁰I am not trying to get praise for myself. There is one who demands it, and he also judges. ⁵¹I tell you the solemn truth, if anyone obeys my teaching, he will never see death.”

⁵²Then the Judeans responded, “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon! Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet you say, ‘If anyone obeys my teaching, he will never experience death.’ ⁵³You aren’t greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? And the prophets died too! Who do you claim to be?” ⁵⁴Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worthless. The one who glorifies me is my Father, about whom you people say, ‘He is our God.’ ⁵⁵Yet you do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his teaching. ⁵⁶Your father Abraham was overjoyed to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”

⁵⁷Then the Judeans replied, “You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am!” ⁵⁹Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden from them and went out from the temple area.

¹Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?” ³Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him. ⁴We must perform the deeds of the one who sent me as long as it is daytime. Night is coming when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶Having said this, he spat on the ground and made some mud with the saliva. He smeared the mud on the blind man’s eyes ⁷and said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “sent”). So the blind man went away and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸Then the neighbors and the people who had seen him previously as a beggar began saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some people said, “This is the man!” while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” The man himself kept insisting, “I am the one!” ¹⁰So they asked him, “How then were you made to see?” ¹¹He replied, “The man called Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and was able to see.” ¹²They said to him, “Where is that man?” He replied, “I don’t know.”