As important as it is to understand that God was in Christ redeeming the world, it is also important to understand that Jesus was fully human. His temptation, His tiredness, His thirst and hunger, His desire to avoid a terrible task all encourage us to see Jesus as one who understands us and cares about our plight.
Note that He arrived at the temptations empty. Not only had He been fasting and was physically empty, He had emptied Himself of His claim to deity in the incarnation. Now He empties Himself of human pride, human self-interest and human “attitude”. He deals with the challenge of temptation with only one strength: He is totally God’s child.
“Lord Jesus, you could have chosen to give in to those temptations. I would have. Thank you for showing me that my temptations can be overcome as I resist the devil and draw near to you.”
R. & M.L. Vosburgh
As David spoke at our family meeting: DITTO.