And he was with the wild animals. (Mark 1:13b ESV)

Mark tells us that while Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness he was with the wild animals. Writing with Mark’s gospel likely before them, neither Matthew or Luke mention this. Mark, with the assistance of Peter, was writing to the Christians in Rome to tell them about their Savior, Messiah, Lord, and Suffering Servant (see Isa. 50 and 53). Let’s draw two inferences from Mark’s extra detail.

Jesus has come as the second Adam to undo the damage our first father brought forth and make things right. Adam and Eve were created and placed in a garden where they would have dominion over the animals and be stewards of the creation. With the fall, however, came curse and alienation. The animals are now “wild.” Jesus, therefore, entered a wild and unsafe wilderness in which to accomplish his work to bring his blessings as far as the curse is found. Sinclair Ferguson puts it eloquently, “It was in a fallen, broken, sinful, disintegrating world that Jesus faced temptation and the powers of darkness, in order to win for his people a way back to the Tree of Life” (Understanding the Gospel).

But the Christians in Rome also knew about wild beasts. Nero would drape the skin of a wild animal over himself as he would torture Christians in the Roman arena. Further, those who would not renounce their faith might also find themselves running from wild beasts in the arena as spectators watched them meet their Savior face-to-face through a grisly end. Mark knew his recipients. He knew his Savior. And under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote just what God’s people needed to hear.

The writer to the Hebrews would elaborate later on: This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin (Heb. 4:15 NLT).