" The three messianic temptations at the start of his public life, which on the face of it he conquered masterfully, took place when he was weak: he met them after his forty days’ fast in the wilderness, “and afterward he was hungry” (Mt 4:2). Instead of fortifying himself he weakens himself in view of the encounter with Satan, for he must be able to taste the full attack of demonic temptation in order to know its true power and plausibility. This christological locus vindicates Paul’s maxim: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). "

― Hans Urs von Balthasar , Does Jesus Know Us--Do We Know Him?