Observation

This was a very popular question and many candidates were attracted to this question and they performed better in the part A than in the part B part. In part A, majority of the candidates were able to describe the temptations of Jesus. However, they mixed the accounts of all the synoptic gospels together. The part B was more of a challenge to many candidates as they failed to mention the significance of the temptation to Jesus in his ministry. The following are some of the points that candidates were expected to have mentioned in the part B;

1. During his baptism, Jesus reflected on his mission as the Messiah/ He examined all the popular ideas about the Messiah and his work and dismissed all of them.
2. Through the temptations, Jesus accepted suffering as a means of achieving God’s purpose, which was the redemption of mankind.
3. With His victory over Satan, Jesus assured his followers that with the word of God, they too can overcome the devil.
4. The temptations signaled the preparation of Jesus for his ministry/ It helped him to explore what his mission entailed.
5. The first temptation was to make Jesus an economic Messiah. One who would satisfy the physical and material needs of the people. Jesus however rejected the idea of bribing the people with material things or performing a miraculous feeding of the hungry and thereby gaining a large following.
6. In the second temptation, Jesus rejected Satan’s suggestion because it meant lack of absolute faith and trust in God/ it was to make Jesus appear as a wonder worker confounding the people with his super natural power/gaining cheap popularity by performing miracles and wonders.

The third temptation was to show Jesus as a political messiah who would wrestle power from the Roman authorities and restore the Davidic kingdom/ Jesus however, rejected the common and corrupt messianic ideas, and chose the path of a spiritual suffering servant to establish his kingdom.