Though Bible writers used poor
imagination in creating a setting for the temptation for Jesus, in essence it
conveys a profound thought. Just like sea-worthiness of a ship is known when it
is placed in the sea and survives a storm (not when it is anchored on the
shore), Jesus proved his worthiness through his second “baptism by fire” (Mathew 3:11) which means he was
victorious over all the temptations he encountered throughout his life as
implied by Mark 1:13 when he said: “He was
with the wild animals, and angels attended him” which means he tasted the life as it is with its rough and soft aspects. All those temptations can
broadly be categorized in to three:
1) Tendency to use skills and
talents for own benefit rather than for others (changing the stones into bread).
2) Putting God into test taking
extreme risk (jumping from the top of temple) with an eye on fame though
short-cut.
3) Forgetting the main purpose of life getting sidetracked on to the splendour of world’s attractions (kingdoms of world in exchange
for an act of worship of Satan, personification of bad qualities, which means
enjoying worldly pleasures and powers through unjust means)
Thus, in details the account of
temptation on Jesus carries wrong messages such as shape of earth is flat,
Satan is a person, Jesus followed Satan to be tempted …etc. But in essence it conveys
great truth that man can be victorious over any temptation by changing the
thought as Jesus did—he did not dwell on any of them.