This coming Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent. The Gospel lesson is the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4:1-13. Jesus could have used, accepted, or displayed power to satisfy his real physical hunger, to have world power right then and there, or to demonstrate suoeriority. Any of thse would have sabotaged his real purpose, to go to Jerusalem and the cross that he knew awaited him. We might endure temptation in order to gain something good; Jesus passed this test in order to move toward even greater pain and suffering, for our sake. He passed the test, at his temptation and at the cross. He has nothing to prove.
What about us? Is there ever a time when we are not tested? Is there ever a time you do not feel you have something to prove?