He came to separate light from darkness

“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” John 9:39

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The coming of light isn’t necessarily good news. There is inevitably polarisation between light and darkness – the two cannot co-exist. God sent Jesus into the world to save, not to condemn, yet nevertheless, “This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light” (John 3:16-21).

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Both these responses to Jesus as “the light of the world” are illustrated in John 9. A man born blind is healed by Jesus and then in the discussion which follows he gradually comes to realise who Jesus is, whilst the self-righteous Pharisees stubbornly insist that they are the ones able to see but all the time confirming their growing blindness.

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We make our own judgement by choosing whether to walk in the light or in the darkness. Coming to the light is scary, for our sin will be exposed, but only then can we be cleansed and become light in the Lord (1 John 1:7-9).