The story of Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness is the scripture passage that the church remembers particularly in the season we are now in: Lent. As we prepare our hearts for engagement with the mystery of Holy Week, the verses describing the stupendous encounter which took place in the deserts of Judea seem filled with a special significance.
It was there, for forty days, while Jesus was in a condition of fasting and weakness, that He was confronted by the personality bearing the power of absolute evil. The book of Genesis describes the way in which, in the guise of a serpent, the Tempter had allured the first humans in Eden and gained an easy triumph. In this recapitulation, Jesus endured the satanic wiles, not in the midst of a garden of delight, but in a place of horror, loneliness and danger.
The narrative of the Temptation is recounted in all three Synoptic Gospels, indicating its especial significance. In their telling of the story, Matthew and Luke focus on the staggering enticements placed before the Son of Man as He suffered the loneliness and privations of the desert. The temptations Satan offered Him involved intrinsic human desires:
- Material prosperity
- Pride and honor
- Power and authority
But what about the Second Gospel?
How strange is Mark’s telling of that same story:
“And He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted of Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him” (Mark 1:13).
That is it: 26 words only, to describe that crucial encounter. There is only the briefest of references to the conflict that took place between Jesus and the demonic entity, followed by a mysterious reference to beasts and angels. Nothing of the fraught dialogue between Jesus and the Tempter, nor of the specific enticements He was offered.
And yet, Mark’s account has its own unique drama, and he is packing a wealth of suggestive power in those few allusive words. If we go back a little in his opening chapter, to the story of Jesus’ baptism, we can perhaps puzzle out some clues as to why he is offering this unusual account.
Mark had earlier pictured Jesus joining the crowds of Israel on the banks of the Jordan, having come to be baptized by John. As He came up from the water He saw the skies above Him torn open, and the Spirit descended on Him like a dove. Describing this sundering of the heavens, Mark uses the graphic term schizo: there is a hint of violence in the action. By way of contrast, Matthew and Luke use the neutral term “opened” to describe the parting of the skies. Although Mark does not explicitly allude to the Hebrew Scriptures, he surely sees the event as an answer to Isaiah’s prayer: “O that you would rend the heavens and come down …” (Isaiah 64:1).
And there is yet a further contrast with the Synoptics. Matthew and Luke use the gentle term “lead” to describe the way in which the Spirit then guided Jesus into the wilderness. According to Mark, the Spirit that descended so forcefully now immediately drives or throws – ekballei – Jesus into the harsh environment. This is the same verb that describes the casting out of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.
Mark, having described in summary fashion the encounter which took place with Satan in the wilderness, then offers the intriguing phrase that Jesus was “with the wild beasts.” These are words that are often passed over quite quickly by readers, but they do suggest that the Gospel writer understood the universal significance of the conflict taking place.
What are we to make of this elusive statement?
As a first consideration, it might be asked to which particular animals Mark is referring. The Greek word used, therion, suggests they were beasts of prey as distinguished from domesticated animals, that is, they were creatures that are dangerous to humans. In the ancient Judean wilderness, Jesus may have encountered animals such as bears and leopards, wolves and vipers, scorpions, and even lions.
Do such creatures have a particular symbolism in the scriptures? It is easy to recall how David fought the lion and bear to protect his flock, and the suspenseful night that Daniel spent in the lions’ den. Isaiah in his prophetic vision saw an eternal highway called Holiness along which no ravenous beast should walk (Isaiah 35:9-10), a forecast of the safety and assurance God’s people will enjoy in the eschatological future.
The scriptures, therefore, clearly present the dangers posed by wild beasts. The next question that then might be asked is whether these creatures are meant to have a particular symbolism. Do the wild beasts in Mark’s account represent specific temptations – something that might also be suggested by the context of the story, concerned as it is with enticement to sin. Or are they perhaps meant to metaphorically represent the evil inclinations of human nature? Are the “wild beasts” actually to be understood as resident within the hearts of men and women, ravaging their lives as they strive for mastery over their subjects?
Dante’s view
The medieval Italian poet Dante has provided a vivid picture in his immortal work, The Divine Comedy, which might suggest just such an understanding. These are the first lines of his epic poem, the action of which commences on Good Friday of the year 1300:
Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
For the straightforward pathway had been lost.
Having forsaken the way of truth, the poet finds himself in a wild and gloomy forest that fills his soul with foreboding. He discovers also that he is at the foot of a mountain, upon the slopes of which, as morning breaks, the rays of the sun begin to shine. Aspiring to follow the light he commences a rapid ascent. But alas! he then encounters three ravaging beasts – a leopard, a lion, and a wolf.
It is generally thought that Dante’s three beasts symbolize different sins: the leopard represents lust, the lion pride, and the wolf avarice. The poet most likely drew inspiration for this passage from the prophet Jeremiah, who prophesied the destruction of those who refused to repent for their iniquities:
“Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities” (Jeremiah 5:6).
In this canto, therefore, Dante is representing all humanity as lost in the wilderness of sin. The imagery of the Italian poet is powerful and compelling. Yet I would like to suggest there is another way of understanding Mark’s mysterious phrase, and the significance of the presence of the wild animals.
A vision of paradise restored
Jesus was in this uncultivated, uninhabited part of the desert, where only the most fierce and savage of creatures dwelt. The text tells us only that He was with the wild beasts, but it seems also that He remained unharmed, nor is there any suggestion that He was afraid, fighting, or fleeing from them. The Greek word meta used here, meaning “with,” is a preposition that denotes “in the midst of or amid, suggesting association, union, and accompaniment.”
This peaceful coexistence with the wild animals recalls Adam’s dominion over the animals in the garden, and the serene harmony with the creatures of the animal kingdom which had been God’s original intention for humanity. The victory of the New Adam over Satan and temptation anticipates the restoration of that paradise in which man will again dwell in concord with the animals. It gives hope that the fullness of that renewal will be realized in the future, and reflects the eschatological hopes for the healing and reconciliation of all creation.
“For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now” (Romans 8:22).
What was in the heart of Jesus as He was alone there with only the wild creatures for company? As He gazed into their eyes, perhaps He saw an appeal for deliverance from the misery of a wild and untamed existence, understood the “earnest expectation of the creatures” as they waited for the manifestation of the sons of God. His great heart of love surely overflowed with compassion toward them, and the desire to see them delivered from the curse He had come to remove. Perhaps, in the heightened consciousness of His tested soul, the vision of Isaiah shone to Him: the day when the wolf should dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the kid.
Moretto da Brescia (1498-1554) has captured such an understanding in his “Christ in the Wilderness,” which shows Jesus with the wild animals, while the angels waited on him. Each of the creatures is turned towards Jesus bending low, some in submission and others in adoration.
For Jesus’ love for God’s creatures, as it manifested itself there, seemed to kindle an answering love that poured itself out from heaven toward that lowly desert ground. And the loves of earth and heaven met in “a visible concourse” of angelic presences that gathered round the humble, afflicted Son of Man, strengthing and girding Him for the great mission of salvation He was about to undertake,
I’ll to the wilderness, and can
Find beasts more mercifull than man;
And forty dayes withstood the fell
And high temptations of hell;
With Seraphims there talked he,
His father’s flaming ministrie;
He heav’n’d their walks, and with his eyes
Made those wild shades a Paradise.
Thus was the desert sanctified
To be the refuge of his bride (From “The Search” by Henry Vaughan)