Anonymous: Jesus' hidden years...and yours

by Alicia Britt Chole

Though occasionally mistaken for one, I am not an optimist. I am a diplomatic realist, and it is easy to confuse the two. As a realist, I so appreciate that Jesus’ chosen strategy to resist temptation in the layer of appetite was not denial. At best, denial seems a questionable use of our finite emotional resources. At worst, it is an intentional investment in untruth. Always, it is a poor defense against the lure of immediate gratification. In the Judean wilderness, we do not find Jesus pacing about with determination chanting, “I am not hungry. I am not hungry. I am not hungry.” He was hungry and made no effort to deny the existence of that hunger. When tempted by Satan to use his power to satisfy his own needs, Jesus’ response was not, “What do you mean? I have no needs,” but, “There is something I need even more than bread: my life is sustained by God’s Word.”