October 21

Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit. — Luke 4:14

One reason that Jesus was tempted was that He might know by experience what temptation means to His followers.

In one of the galleries of Europe there is a picture of an angel standing near the empty cross, after Jesus had been buried, touching with his fingers the sharp points of the thorns in the crown of thorns.

The artist’s thought is that the angel had looked on the sufferings of Christ with wonder. He could not understand them. The angels never have suffered, and hence there is nothing in the angel nature or experience to interpret suffering. This angel in the picture is pressing his fingers upon the sharp thorn–points, trying to discover what pain is.

It was necessary that Jesus should suffer Himself, that He might understand our sufferings. He was tempted in all points that He might sympathize with us in our temptations.

Nothing means more to us in the great struggles of our lives than to remember that Christ has felt what we are feeling, and sympathizes with us.