the call had come to him from God, nor his faith that what
God had called him to do he could accomplish.

92. The gospels show no hesitation in calling the experience of these days
a temptation, nor had the Christian feeling of the first century any
difficulty in thinking of its Lord as actually suffering temptation (Heb.
ii. 18; iv. 15). A temptation to be real cannot be hypothetical; evil must
actually present itself as attractive to the tempted soul. A suggestion of
evil that takes no hold concretely of the heart is no temptation, nor is
the resistance of it any victory. The sinlessness of him who sought
baptism with no confession on his lips nor sense of penitence in his heart
offers no barrier to his experience of genuine temptation, unless we think
him incapable of sin, and therefore not "like unto his brethren." Not only
do the gospels repeatedly refer to his temptations (Luke iv. 13; Mark
viii. 31-33; Luke xxii. 28; compare Heb. v. 7-9), but they also depict
clearly the reality of these initial testings. The account as given in
Matthew and Luke represents the experience with which the forty days'
struggle culminated. The absorption of Jesus' mind had been so complete
that he had neglected the needs of his body, and when he turned to think
of earthly things he was pressed by hunger. A popular notion at a later
time, and probably also in Jesus' day, was that the Messiah would be able
to feed his people as Moses had given them manna in the wilderness (John
vi. 30-32; see EdersLJM. I. 176). He had just been endowed with the
divine Spirit for the work before him; it was therefore no fantastic idea
when the suggestion came that he should use his power to supply his own
needs in the desert. Nor was the temptation without attractiveness; his
own physical nature urged its need, and Jesus was no ascetic who found
discomfort a way of holiness. The evil in the suggestion was that it asked
him to use his newly given powers for the supply of his own needs, as if
doubting that God would care for him as for any other of his children.
There was more than distrust of God suggested; the temptation came with a
hint of another doubt,--"_If_ thou art God's Son." A miracle would prove
to himself his appointment and his power. The suggested doubt of his call
he passed unnoticed; distrust of God he repudiated instantly, falling back
on his faith in the God he had served these many years (Deut. viii. 3).
His victory is remarkable because