The Greatest Temptation

Ivan Kramskoi (1837 -1887) - Christ in the Wilderness - 1872 The greatest temptation.

In Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor lurks a dreadful idea. Who can be sure, he says—metaphorically, of course—that when the crucified Christ uttered His cry: "Lord, why hast thou forsaken me?" He did not call to mind the temptation of Satan, who for one word had offered Him dominion over the world?

And, if Jesus recollected this offer, how can we be sure that He did not repent not having taken it?...

One had better not be told about such temptations.

                                                            -- Lev Shestov, All Things Are Possible

The idea is dreadful because it diametrically opposes what Jesus created and what he offers via his creation (or, as Dr. Charlton calls it, the Second Creation).

The Synoptic Gospels describe Jesus rejecting all of Satan's temptations, including dominion over the world. The story does not appear in the Fourth Gospel, though a case for the appearance of the three temptations can be made (subject of another post, perhaps).

It is clear that Jesus had no regrets about resisting the devil's three temptations, making the temptation to think otherwise a great temptation, indeed. 

The reasons for Jesus's rejection should require no explanation, yet I am sure that some Christians secretly wish Jesus had taken dominion of the world. If nothing else, it would justify their own seeming inability to resist such temptations or, at the very least, seriously entertain them.