Somerset Maugham
Taken from: The Razor’s Edge -Published 1943
Do you remember how Jesus was led into the wilderness and fasted
forty days? The when he was a-hungered, the devil came to him and said:
If thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But
Jesus resisted the temptation. Then the devil set him upon a pinnacle of
the temple and said to him: If thou be the son of God, cast thyself
down, for angels had charge of him and would bear him up. But again
Jesus resisted. Then the devil took him into a high mountain and showed
him the kingdoms of the world and said that he would give them to him if
he would fall down and worship him. But Jesus said: Get the hence,
Satan.
That’s the end of the story according to the good simple Matthew. But
it wasn’t. The evil was sly and came to Jesus once more and said: If
thou will accept shame and disgrace, scourging and a crown of thorns,
and death on the cross thou shall save the human race, for greater love
hat no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus fell. The devil laughed till his sides ached, for he knew the evil
men would commit in the name of their redeemer.
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