After his baptism in the River Jordan, Jesus goes into the desert (Mk 1:12-15). Mark tells the story in two sentences; none of the elaborate discussion with Satan that we find in Matthew and Luke. But the sparseness of Mark’s account makes the central point much clearer.
Jesus was tempted.
The Son of God, identical with the Father in substance (“one in being with the Father”), was tempted.
Of course we know that Jesus was human. He walked like a man, he ate like a man, he bled like a man. But to really accept that he was tempted like any of us, that he had the same weak points at which he could be attacked, that his inner self was as human as his external body, that’s more of a challenge.
I suspect we tend to think of his divinity as some sort of shield that acted as a defense, that meant his battle with temptation was not quite like ours. And when it involves debating with the devil it is indeed a little hard to relate. But if we strip away the theology and just look at the core which Mark provides – then we face a situation identical to the one we are in. We are tempted. We are not always our best self. He was tempted.
But he was always his best self.
So then he wasn’t really like us. He did have some sort of super power, some super defense that we don’t have.
No. He was human, just like us. The point is not that he had a special superpower, but that we also have a special superpower. He has shared the power to be holy, to be one with the Father. We are just like Jesus. We can conquer sin and death. Temptation and failure is not our destiny. We can be glorious with him, glorified as he was glorified. He was tempted and prevailed. We are tempted and can prevail – because he has saved us.