"Christ Jesus emptied himself... being born in human likeness."

Quite often we portray God as all-powerful, all-knowing and supernatural. In the Old Testament, the Israelites understood God as their creator, a God who ruled his people with laws. Their knowledge was mediated through prophets and they feared that they would die if they met God face to face.

However, the first reading tells us that Christ Jesus revealed himself as someone who is weak, born in human likeness - made weak because of his love for us. He faced death at the hands of his own creation, all because he wanted to reveal the true nature of God as boundless love.