I came into the world as light…not to condemn the world but to save the world. God created us with what is called a capacity for God (capax dei). It is a quality that is unique to us human beings, and it enables us to transcend ourselves and reach out to God because we were created for God. It is because of this quality that we are able to hear the voice of God and respond accordingly. But we were also created with free will, that capacity that enables us to make a choice. It is a quality that should help us to respond accordingly the voice of God. However, our free will sometimes works against us in the sense that we choose to refuse to listen to God’s voice. It is this that Jesus is addressing in our gospel reading today. Jesus comes to us as the light. He comes to us as God’s plan aimed at helping us discern God’s voice in a world in which many voices compete for our attention. Jesus comes to remind us of who we are, that we are created to listen only to God’s voice. But Jesus does not force us to listen to God’s voice. And when we fail to listen to God’s voice, we cannot be able to live a full life as a creature with the capacity for God (with the capacity to love and be loved, show kindness, empathize). It is this that then becomes our condemnation. We are condemned when we live lives that are not proper to our nature: when we refuse to love and be loved, when we refuse to forgive, when we refuse to show kindness, and when we refuse to show empathy). If anyone hears my words and does not observe them, he has condemned himself. Why would Jesus make such a remark? Why would Jesus think that he is condemning the world? Something must have been going on. People must have been talking, and their talks must have been bordering on Jesus condemning them. We only have to recall an earlier statement by a section of Jesus’ followers: “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?”(John 6:60). To the people, the proposals put forth by Jesus appear insurmountable. Jesus is claiming to have come to bring them life eternal, but the conditions that have come with it are just preposterous: loving enemies, turning the other cheek, not judging and condemning, sharing one’s blessings with the less fortunate and so on. However, they failed to realize that on a closer look, all that Jesus is asking of us is to simply live our lives as human persons. The commands of Jesus are already things that are expected of us as people created in the image and likeness of God, as creatures gifted with intelligence. Loving, showing kindness, helping those in need, treating people fairly, being good to those we encounter are simply human values. They only become Christian when practiced by followers of Jesus, but are generally human values. When we fail to live these human values, problems begin to emerge. When we fail to love, show kindness, or help those in need, then we begin living in fear. This is the condemnation that Jesus refers to. It is our failure to live our human calling that lowers the value of our lives and puts obstacles between us and eternal life.