A story in which Jesus cures a leper appears in Mark 1:40–45, Matthew 8:1–4 and Luke 5:12–16. Having cured the man, he instructs him to offer the requisite ritual sacrifices as prescribed by the Deuteronomic Code and Priestly Code, and not to tell anyone who had healed him; but the man disobeyed, increasing Jesus' fame, and thereafter Jesus withdrew to deserted places, but was followed there.Mkay. I'm dealing with a child. Good to know. First of all Mary magdalene was not a prostitute.
Secondly in the context of Jewish vernacular the wilderness is a term that describes all areas not under Jewish law just like cattle and all the wild beasts of the field are metaphors for the human animals who roam the wilderness east of Eden.
John also preached in the wilderness as you said. If it was meant to mean a desolate lonely place who was he preaching to? Was he preaching to himself like some nutjob ?
And Jesus was not some lonely aesthetic in the middle of nowhere hearing demonic voices.
He was running around with the Romans who lived in a lawless wilderness doing what Romans do. Remember, when Peter tried to dissuade Jesus from doing the right thing he said fuck off satan. The devil of the temptation story was likewise just some observant friend who said,
"Jesus WTF are you doing wasting your life with these losers? You are a nice good looking guy. You make beautiful furniture. Everyone loves you, You could make millions of shekels and all of this world would be at your command if you would only just listen to me and quit all that crazy talk about right and wrong and good and evil."
There is no other rational way to interpret that story of the temptation. All the pieces fit perfectly.
In an episode in the Gospel of Luke Luke 17:11–19, while on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus sends ten lepers who sought his assistance to the priests, and they were healed as they go, but the only one who comes back to thank Jesus is a Samaritan.