NOTES for Joh 3:19
The fear of being condemned at the Last Judgment, which is often called the dread judgment, is familiar to every person. Yet we are used to perceiving this judgment as a legal proceeding in which our actions are examined and the Lord issues a decision that therefore comes to us as if from outside. In this picture of the world, our actions are connected with our fate after death, but only in some mediated way. But Jesus' words show us a completely different picture.
The Lord is unchanging in His love for us; in Him there is no evil and no desire to condemn humanity. A little earlier in Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, we see a prediction of how far He is ready to go in His love for people: to the torment and suffering of the Cross. But in the light of His sacrifice, our pettiness, the suffering we cause others, and our malice become so clearly visible that it is truly frightening. We want to slip into the shadows and become unnoticed. And so, running away from His love that illuminates everything, we instinctively cling to our human darkness and become our own condemnation.
It is striking that Jesus says this not before a large crowd, but in a nighttime conversation with one disciple, and even a secret one, Nicodemus. Perhaps this is because His words are addressed to each of us individually. The Lord, by His coming to earth, not only changes our idea of the world, but also calls each of us to a transformation of the heart and of the path of our life, calling us to make a choice between light and darkness.