Study Desk

They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.

Jesus made these statements while he was teaching in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, because his time had not yet come.

But they still didn't understand that he was talking about his Father.

"Our father is Abraham!" they declared. "No," Jesus replied, "for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example.

For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

"Rabbi," his disciples asked him, "why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins?"

"It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins," Jesus answered. "This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.

His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"

The Jewish leaders still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see, so they called in his parents.

His parents replied, "We know this is our son and that he was born blind,

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue.

"Look!" the man exclaimed. "I told you once. Didn't you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"

Then they cursed him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses!

We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.

They won't follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don't know his voice."

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.

Some said, "He's demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?"

But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don't believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father."