This story appears only in the synoptic gospels, that is, Mark, Matthew and Luke. However, this story is different from the ones we've looked at so far. Mark, the earliest written, has only a bare bones version. It is presented in only two verses, short ones at that, only 33 words in total. Mark provides no details of the temptations that are presented to Jesus. The spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness. He is there for 40 days. Satan tempts him. He is with wild beasts. And the angels minister to him. That's it.
Matthew and Luke both provide additional details to this story, including the three temptations that Satan presents to Jesus. They do however, disagree on the order in which they are presented to him. The details are very similar in both these gospels, yet they did not come from Mark, since they don't appear there. Where did Matthew and Luke get them then? Christian scholars have postulated that both Matthew and Luke had another source, besides Mark, that was lost long ago. Scholars refer to it as the Q gospel, so named for the German word for source, quelle. It is thought to have been a collection of sayings of Jesus. This seems to make sense in this case since Jesus' replies to the three temptations are very well known; e.g. "Man shall not live by bread alone.....".
Mark identifies Jesus' tempter as Satan. In Matthew and Luke, it's the devil. The being that causes Jesus to be in the wilderness, is identified as the Spirit in all three gospels, not the Holy Spirit, but I expect that is who they mean. It is interesting that in Mark, the Spirit drives him into the wilderness, while in Matthew and Luke the Spirit leads him there, a much gentler approach. It's hard to imagine one third of the Holy Trinity driving another third anywhere. I expect Jesus would have responded positively to a gentle suggestion.
The temptations themselves don't make a lot of sense. What is the point of having Jesus tempted by the devil? The devil has no currency that interests Jesus. The devil seems to have knowledge of Jesus' divinity or at least that he has supporters in high places. Even the devil must know how this will end. He has nothing to offer that would be remotely of interest to Jesus. Jesus can turn rocks into bread if he wants to. He can throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple without injury and the kingdoms the devil offers him would be of no use to him; and how are they the devil's to give anyway? In Luke, the devil tells Jesus that all the kingdoms that he sees from atop a mountain that "has been delivered to me" could be his if he agrees to worship him. It sounds like the devil thinks God turned those kingdoms over to him. I can't find anywhere in Luke where the author says this. Where could Luke have obtained this information? If it had happened, it would have been a private deal between God and the devil.
It's hard to see what the point of this story is. Why does the Spirit deliver Jesus to the devil to be tempted in the first place? The Spirit isn't the devil's lackey. Is it at God's behest or the devil's? There is no chance Jesus could fail; he is God incarnate. What truck would he have with the devil, so what's the point? And by the way, who witnessed these events that would then be in a position to pass this information on to posterity? No wonder the author of John's gospel took a pass on it, if indeed he had ever heard of it.
