Study Desk

You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.

and His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.

At this, his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging began to ask, "Isn't this the man who used to sit and beg?"

Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.

So the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. The man answered, "He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see."

The Jews still did not believe that the man had been blind and had received his sight until they summoned his parents

His parents answered, "We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind.

But how he can now see or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself."

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

That was why his parents said, "He is old enough. Ask him."

He replied, "I already told you and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?"

Then they heaped insults on him and said, "You are His disciple; we are disciples of Moses.

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will.

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

When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will flee from him because they do not recognize his voice."

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock.

(Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, would later anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.)