Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism is taken up by both Matthew and Luke, Matthew being the more familiar since Western Christians have, until the 1970s, usually read Matthew whenever possible in preference to Mark, Luke, or John.[1] So, it’s a little hard for me to think about today’s gospel from Mark without thinking of the conversations the “tempter” in Matthew, the “devil” in Luke, has had with Jesus. But Mark only says this, “[Jesus] was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him.”[2]
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