Jesus had to face these temptations to claim his identity as the Christ. And to loosen the grasp of the lies, he had to recover the loss of these affirmations in our shared human condition by illuminating the truth. How did Jesus do this? In self-deprivation he gave himself to the prayer practice of fasting in solitude, silence, and stillness, confronting any claims these lies or programs for happiness may have on the rest of us. In other words, Jesus does not ask us to do through contemplative practice what he has not done himself.
