God was not contended in loving us as God. He chose to love us as man like us. He became like us so that we can become His and He, ours. God became like us, became flesh and lived Son. He took the risk to make true love possible. God came not I power but in the weakness, in human form, to show us his faithfulness.

Jesus became like us in all things except sin. He suffered deprivation, refusal and injustice. He is also Emmanuel, to remind all of us, that God is with us, to empower us to become children of God.

This is the greatest truth in our lives, that in spite of our sinfulness, God chose to give us the gift of His Son. "In order to ransom a slave, he betrayed a son," so goes the Easter Exultet. But many have chosen to dwell in darkness even after Jesus has been given to us as our light. It is because they thought Jesus was "to good to be true." Sometime when we are all down and troubled and a friend comes to console us, we say "You can say those consoling words because you have not experienced how painful and difficult the things I am going through right now. You don't know how hard it is to be in this situation." We cannot tell this to Jesus. He knew how it was to experience pain and difficulty, even thought he didn't deserve such. He felt how it was to be rejected, denied by a friend and betrayed by a discipline in exchange for thirty pieces of silver. He experienced carrying the cross and being crucified on it --- an ordeal meant only for a criminal. He went through all of these things even though he didn't deserve such. "He worked with human hands. He thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will and with a human heart he loved." Jesus is never "too good to be true."

We cannot believe in a God who took the pains of being human to show his faithful love simply because we ourselves are afraid to risk in love. There was this conversation in a Tagalog drama on television between a retired teacher and his former student:" Dalawang bagay lamang sa buhay ng tao. Nabubuhay sa takot o nabubuhay sa pag-ibig. Takot tayong magbigay dahil baka hindi bumalik. Takot tayong makibahagi dahil baka hindi patas ang laban. Takot tayong magmahal dahil baka tayo masaktan."

Christ's coming in human form teaches us that true love can only be possible if we risk. "Magbigay tayo kahit hindi bumabalik. Makibahagi tayo kahit hindi tiyak na patas ang laban. Magmahal tayo kahit mahirap at masakit." Then we will realize that indeed Jesus ins never too good to be true.