From: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The Second Coming of the Lord
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Commentary:
13. “Those who are asleep”: this expression, already to be found in some pagan
writings, was often used by the early Christians to refer to those who died in the
faith of Christ. In Christian writings it makes more sense, given Christian belief in
the resurrection of Jesus and in the resurrection of the body. It is not just a eu-
phemism: it underlines the fact that death is not the end. “Why does it say that
they are asleep”, St Augustine asks, “if not because they will be raised when
their day comes?” (”Sermon 93”, 6). Hence St. Escriva’s advice: “When facing
death, be calm. I do not want you to have the cold stoicism of the pagan, but the
fervor of a child of God who knows that life is changed, not taken away. To die is
to live!” (”Furrow”, 876).
Even though we have this hope, it is perfectly understandable for us to feel sad
when people we love die. This sadness, provided it is kept under control, is a
sign of affection and piety, but “to be excessively downcast by the death of
friends is to act like someone who does not have the spirit of Christian hope.
A person who does not believe in the resurrection and who sees death as total
annihilation has every reason to weep and lament and cry over those friends and
relations who have passed away into nothingness. But you are Christians, you
believe in the resurrection, you live and die in hope: why should you mourn the
dead excessively?” (Chrysostom, “Hom. on 1 Thess, ad loc.”).
14. “It is appointed for men to die once” (Heb 9:27). However, for a person who
has faith, death does not just mean the end of his days on earth. Our Lord Jesus
Christ died and rose again, and his resurrection is a pledge of our resurrection:
death “in Christ” is the climax of a life in union with him, and it is the gateway
to heaven. And so St Paul tells Timothy, “If we have died with him, we shall also
live with him; if we endure, we shall also reign with him” (2 Tim 2:11-12).
The resurrection the Christian will experience is not only similar to our Lord’s; his
resurrection is in fact the cause of ours. St Thomas Aquinas explains this as fol-
lows: “Christ is the model of our resurrection, because he took flesh and he rose
in the flesh. However, he is not only our model; he is also the efficient cause (of
our resurrection) because anything done by the human nature of Christ was done
not only by the power of his human nature but also by the power of the godhead
united to that nature. And so, just as his touch cured the leper by virtue of its
being the instrument of his godhead, so the resurrection of Christ is the cause
of our resurrection” (”Commentary on 1 Thess, ad loc.”). Although this passage
of the letter does not say so explicitly, it is implied that we will rise with our bo-
dies, just as Jesus rose with his.
15-17. The religious instruction of the Thessalonians was cut short because St
Paul had to leave the city in a hurry. One of the doubts remaining in their minds
can be expressed as follows: Will the dead be under any disadvantage vis-à-vis
those who are still alive when the Parousia of the Lord happens? The Apostle
replies in two stages: first he says that we will have no advantage of any kind
over them (vv. 15-18); then he makes clear that we do not know when that even
will come about (5:1-2).
In his reply he does not explicitly speak about the general resurrection; he refers
only to those who die “in Christ”. He distinguishes two groups as regards the si-
tuation people find themselves in at our Lord’s second coming—1) those who are
alive: these will be “caught up”, that is changed (cf. 1 Cor 15:51; 2 Cor 5:2-4) by
the power of God and will change from being corruptible and mortal to being in-
corruptible and immortal; 2) those who have already died: these will rise again.
St Paul’s reply is adapted to the tenor of the question; so, when he writes “we
who are alive, who are left” he does not mean that the Parousia will happen soon
or that he will live to see the day (cf. Pontifical Biblical Commission, “Reply” con-
cerning the Parousia, 18 June 1915). He uses the first person plural because at
the time of writing both he and his readers were alive. However, his words were
misinterpreted by some of the Thessalonians, and that was the reason he wrote
the second epistle a few months later (in which he puts things more clearly:
“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to
meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to quickly shaken in mind or excited [...],
to the effect that the day of the Lord has come” (2 Thess 2:1-2). However, even
in the first letter there are enough indications that St Paul was not saying the
Parousia was imminent, for he implies that he does not know when it will hap-
pen (cf. 5:1-2).
To describe the signs which will mark the Lord’s coming, St Paul uses imagery
typical of apocalyptic writing—the voice of the archangel, the sound of the trum-
pet, the clouds of heaven. These signs are to be found in the Old Testament
theophanies or great manifestations of Yahweh (cf. Ex 19:16); on the day of the
Parousia, too, they will reveal God’s absolute dominion over the forces of nature,
as also his sublimity and majesty.
When the Lord Jesus comes in all his glory, those who had died in the Lord
(who already were enjoying the vision of God in heaven) and those who have
been changed will go to meet the Lord “in the air”, for both will now have glori-
fied bodies (cf. 1 Cor 15:43) endowed with the gift of “agility”, “by which the
body will be freed from the heaviness that now presses it down, and will take
on a capability of moving with the utmost ease and swiftness, wherever the
soul pleases” (”St. Pius V Catechism”, I, 12, 13).
After the general judgment, which will take place that day, the righteous will be
“always with the Lord.” That is in fact the reward of the blessed—to enjoy forever,
in body and soul, the sight of God, thereby attaining a happiness which more
than makes up for whatever they have had to do to obtain it, for “the sufferings
of this present life are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed
to us” (Rom 8:18). “If at any time you feel uneasy at the thought of our sister
death because you see yourself to be such a poor creature, take heart. Think
of this: Heaven awaits us; what will it be like when all the infinite beauty and
greatness and happiness and Love of God are poured into the poor clay vessel
that the human being is, to satisfy it eternally with the freshness of an ever-new
joy?” (St. J. Escriva, “Furrow”, 891).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.