THE SATAN AND THE PRIEST

A priest was going to his church. It was still some distance away and he was almost running in order to get their on time. crossing  afield on his way, he saw a wounded man lying in a nearby ditch. A knife protruded from Man’s chest and he was bleeding. The priest considered lifting him up and attending to him, but on the second thought, he felt it might delay his arrival to church. He had chosen “Love” as the subject of his sermon that day, he had decided to elaborate on Christ’s famous maxim, “ God is Love”. He had been mentally preparing his comments as he hurried on the way.

But the wounded man opened his eyes and shouted, “Father I know that you are going to the church to deliver a sermon on the subject of love. I was to attend the sermon too, but bandits have stabbed me and thrown me here. Listen if I survive I will tell people that a human being was dying by the roadside and that instead of saving him, you ran away to deliver your sermon on love. I warn you, don’t ignore me.

This scared the priest a bit. He realized that if this man were to survive and relate the incident, the people of the village would say that his sermons were all humbug. The priest was not worried about the dying man but of public opinion., so he approached the man unwillingly. As he came nearer he saw the man’s face clearly: it seemed somewhat familiar. He said,” it appears I have seen you somewhere before.”

The injured man said, “ you must have. I am satan and I have very old relations with priests and religious leaders. If I am not familiar to you, then to who else?”

The priest then remembered him clearly , he had a picture of him in the church. He drew back. he said, “ I cannot save you. it is better you die. You are  satan. We are always wishing you dead and it is good you are dying. Why should I try to save you, it is sin even to touch you. I am going on my way.”

Satan laughed out loudly and said ,” Listen, the day I die, you will be out of business, you cannot exist without me. you are who you are because I am alive, I am the basis of your profession. You better save me, because if I die all the priests and religious leaders would be out of work. You will all become extinct, the world will be a better place to live in and people won’t need you anymore.

The priest thought this over for a second and understood that what satan was saying is a basic truth. Immediately, he lifted the dying satan onto his shoulders and said,” my dear satan, do not worry, I am taking you to the hospital for treatment. You will get well quickly. Please do not die. You are right, without you we won’t exist………………..