It is difficult to imagine what Jesus experienced in the desert. How did Satan appear to him? Was it as an actual person or maybe just as a series of dark thoughts? Jesus was very vulnerable, having fasted for forty days. He must have felt very weak and, in the loneliness of the barren landscape, a prey for the forces of evil. He had grown up in a small village and lived a normal life as a Jewish boy and young man. His baptism by John and the affirmation from the voice from Heaven must have strengthened his knowledge that he was both divine and human. Perhaps this was the reality that he had to face in the desert.
He would have been ravenous, and the desire to turn the stones into bread would have been very real. However, if he was to live a life as a human being, such an action was out of the question. Being offered power must have also been a huge temptation. Confronted with the might of the Roman Empire, surely this would be something he really needed. In our own time, we are seeing just how corrupting power is when it is used for personal advantage and to crush weaker opponents. Jesus knew that the only real power was that of the cross.
Throwing himself off the temple would have been a spectacle worthy of Hollywood. However, Jesus in his ministry wanted his miracles to be for healing, not to win admirers. His aim was to attract followers as God’s love incarnate, not by magic tricks. His victory in the desert was the beginning of the path to the cross and our salvation.