32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (year A)

(1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)

13 We do not wish, brothers and sisters, to leave you in the dark about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 

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St Paul introduces the subject of the final destiny of the dead (and the living), here euphemistically referred to as koimōmenōn, that is, the ‘sleeping ones’. Death, likened here to sleep, suggests that this sleep, like any other sleep, is not eternal but will sooner or later come to an end, thus giving way to awakening, which alludes to the resurrection. We cannot know with certainty the precise reasons why Paul addresses this topic. One might speculate that a certain unease had arisen amongst the Thessalonians following the death of some of their brothers after the apostle’s departure. Paul had announced the return of Jesus. For the Thessalonians, therefore, it was conceivable that they would be spared death and enter the kingdom directly. In this context, the fact that several brothers had died before Christ’s coming raised a troubling dilemma for them: were these deceased perhaps excluded from final salvation? Many believed that the end of the world would come at any moment. If this end were to be delayed – and indeed it was – what would become of the brothers in Christ who had already died? To put it another way, the question that arises here is what position the deceased believers and those who are still alive at the time of the Parousia occupy; will both groups be treated in the same way? Or do the living have an advantage over those who have died? Will they face different fates, or are they united in a single destiny? It is precisely this reference to the Lord’s return, regarded as imminent, that raises the problem for the Thessalonians: those who are alive will certainly meet the Lord as he comes, but what fate awaits those who have died at the time of his coming? Facing a question such as this demonstrates that we are dealing with a very ancient text; only in the early days of the Church’s history could such a problem have arisen.

Ignorance of what lies ‘after death’ breeds sorrow; sorrow, a lack of hope; a lack of hope, despondency and desolation. The believer in Christ can never sink to such depths: they will undoubtedly experience the pain of separation from their loved ones, but never, ever will they be inconsolable. The contrast is not between one degree of sadness and another, but between Christian hope and pagan despair.

In this verse, there is a close connection between ignorance and sadness arising from a lack of hope, and this ignorance concerns a specific point: those who sleep, that is, the dead. Man’s central problem is the problem of death and, therefore, ignorance of what happens in death is a cause of sadness; it is a cause of a lack of hope. It would also be interesting to consider whether this absolute ignorance regarding man’s destiny might not lie at the root of the lack of hope and sadness in our age.

Ignorance is mankind’s worst evil because man is made for the truth; today, truth is confused with the flood of news and technical details, but how much do we know about the meaning of our lives? Perhaps very few eras in history have been as ignorant about the fundamental aspects of life as our own. Small examples: no one is born at home and no one dies at home; thus, the beginning and end of life are already excluded from life itself. We no longer know what a home is; nor do we know what a human being is in their relationships – they have neither beginning, nor end, nor middle – so this ignorance is very profound.

This ignorance obviously extends to death as well. Death is probably the great taboo of our age because it concerns the meaning of life. St Paul addresses what is the fundamental question of humanity: what is the point of living, what is the point of dying, where do we end up, and where do we come from? If we exclude these issues from our consideration of life, we remain in ignorance as to why we live; and someone who does not know why they live ultimately lives haphazardly, becoming a domesticated animal trained to do whatever others want; that is to say, there is no longer any freedom, no longer any choice, because there is no guiding principle, no criterion on which to base decisions and choices.

It would therefore be worthwhile for us to examine our ignorance regarding life and death—both our own personal ignorance and that of our age. The result of this ignorance is striking: we become like those who have no hope. It is striking how Paul defines non-Christians: those who ‘have no hope’; hope is the future: they are those who have no future. If death is the final word on this human life, there is no future; then all that remains is to be ignorant and forget everything. Ignorance becomes, in fact, a form of repression – the repression of what is felt to be the end, given that the end is unknown.

Ignorance in just one aspect of our faith can undermine our entire faith. Paul compares ignorance to a lack of knowledge of God. An ignorant Christian is in every respect like one who does not know God and is therefore without hope. Hence arises the necessity—and therefore the duty—to constantly shed light on truth and doctrine, on faith and science, on intelligence and knowledge, whenever a single error enters a community, or even simply a heart.

To allow a single error to creep into the truth and fail to endeavour to correct it is tantamount to causing a person, a community, or the whole people of God to fall back into ignorance. The truth is either the whole truth, or it is not the truth. Either it is complete in every part, or it is not the truth. An error arising in one part corrupts the whole truth contained therein.

As soon as Paul realises that an error has crept into the faith, he intervenes immediately and, without delay, restores the truth to its rightful place so that it may shed light not only on Christians, but through them on the whole world. This concern, this zeal, this evangelical charity must be possessed by all those engaged in evangelisation and by all those who, in any way, hold a position of authority within the Christian community. 

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, in the mystery of the Trinity

Jesus’ prophetic discourse (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)