The Scandal of the Cross

There was one line in particular that struck me in our reading (from ch. 4 of Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth) for last week's teen catechism discussion. It was this:

The scandal of the Cross is harder for many to bear than the thunder of Sinai had been for the Israelites.

The timing of this phrase was particularly interesting as most of us were reading Fabiola for the lit discussion the following day. Though many were converted by their admiration of the fortitude of the martyrs, others (certainly many in our own time) find it hard to swallow that a good God would allow his followers to suffer and die, or for evil to even exist in the world.

Which reminds me of my husband's recent post on liberty. Which reminds me of a portion of the Sermon on the Mount (which we're studying in Jesus of Nazareth right now) that was quoted in Fabiola:

You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Emphasis mine - taken from Matthew 5: 43-45)