"Are you trying to teach us?" they answered. "You, who were born a sinner?"

Then they turned him out of the church; they forbade him to sit in the meetings or to go into the Temple; and after that none of them would so much as speak to him. Jesus heard that he had been put out of the church; he sought him out, and when he had found him, he asked:

"Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

"Tell me who he is," said the man, "and I will believe in him."

"You have seen him," answered Jesus, "and it is he who is now speaking to you."

The man said, "I do believe, Lord," and he fell on his face before him.

And Jesus said, "I came into the world to put men to this test, in order that those who cannot see, and know they are blind as this man was, might be made to see; and that those who think they can see should remain blind."

Some of the Pharisees who heard this knew that it was a rebuke to them, because they failed to see in Jesus one sent from God. They said:

"Then are we blind, too!"

"If you were really blind," said Jesus, "you would have no sin to answer for; but as it is, you say, 'We can see,' and so your sin remains against you."