Episode 51: Year A – 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time
In this episode, we focus on two details that are relevant for doing apologetics. The first comes from the second reading, which is taken from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. The relevant apologetical topic is the Rapture. The second detail comes from the Gospel reading, taken from Matthew 25:1-13, and it relates to the apologetical topic of Hell.
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Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In this episode, we’re going to focus on two details that are relevant for doing apologetics. The first comes from the second reading, which is taken from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. The relevant apologetical topic is the Rapture. The second detail comes from the Gospel reading, taken from Matthew 25:1-13, and it relates to the apologetical topic of Hell.
Let’s get started with the second reading, again, taken from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Paul writes,
13 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore, console one another with these words
The detail that I want to focus on here is Paul’s statement that when Christ comes from heaven the Christians “who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with [those raised from the dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (v.17).
Some Protestants[i] believe, contrary to Catholic teaching (CCC 675), this passage reveals that Christians will not experience the persecution of the Antichrist at the end of time but will be snatched up by the Lord prior to it. This is a doctrine known as the pre-tribulation Rapture.
Protestants argue that Paul can’t be talking about the Second Coming here, because Jesus only comes part-way down and then goes back up. Moreover, because no judgment of the nations is mentioned, like we see in Matthew 25:31-46 and Revelation 20, it must be referring to the “rapture.”
The responses that I will give here come from my book Meeting the Protestant Challenge: How to Answer 50 Biblical Objections to Catholic Beliefs.
The first is that this view misreads the text as a partial coming-from and return back to heaven. Verse 15 reads that the Lord will “descend from heaven with a cry of command” but nowhere does Paul actually say that Jesus returns to heaven. If Jesus’ descent is definitive, it’s not a partial coming like the pre-tribulation rapture requires it to be.
But what are we to make of Paul’s description that the saints who are alive will be “caught up…to meet the Lord in the air”? A possible interpretation is that Paul is describing how Christians will meet the Lord in the air to escort him, in a way that is analogous to the ancient custom of citizens ushering in important visitors.
It was common for citizens to meet an illustrious person (such as dignitary or victorious military leader) and his entourage outside the walls of their city and accompany him back in. This was a way for people to honor the visitor and take part in the celebration of the visitor’s coming.
We see an example of this in Acts 28:14-15, where the brethren at Rome went out of the city to meet Paul as he approached: “And so we came to Rome. And the brethren there, when they heard of us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us.” This ancient custom also explains why the crowds go out to meet Jesus on Palm Sunday and usher him into Jerusalem (see Matt. 21:1-17).
So, for Paul, those who are alive at the Second Coming will do for our blessed Lord what the ancients did for their dignitaries: they will be caught up in the air to meet the approaching king Jesus and escort him as he “descend[s] from heaven with a cry of command” (1 Thess. 4:16).
Second, the details of the passage reveal that Paul is talking about the final coming of Jesus at the end of time.
Notice that it’s not just the living who are caught up with the Lord, but also the dead in Christ: “And the dead in Christ will rise first” (v.16). That Paul speaks of the resurrection of the dead tells us that he’s referring to the end of time.
We know this for several reasons. First, Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15 that the end happens in tandem with the resurrection of the dead:
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power (1 Cor. 15:22-24).
If Paul viewed the resurrection of the dead as occurring in tandem with the end of time, and if he speaks of the resurrection of the dead in tandem with Christ’s coming in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, it follows that Christ’s coming in those verses is his coming at the end of time and not the beginning of a pre-tribulation rapture.
A second reason why we know Paul is talking about the end of time is because when he speaks about the “coming of the Lord” in 2 Thessalonians, he says that the Antichrist and his reign of evil must precede it:
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming (2 Thess. 2:1-8).
It’s clear that Paul is connecting the “coming of our Lord” here in 2 Thessalonians and the “coming of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians 4:15, because he speaks of “our assembling to meet him.”
So, if the “coming of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 must be preceded by the Antichrist and his reign of evil, those verses can’t be referring to a pre-tribulation rapture. Rather, they must refer to our Lord’s coming at the end of time, when he vanquishes all evil and condemns those “who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thess. 2:12).
A final clue for this being the final day of judgment is the fact that the Lord will descend with “the sound of the trumpet of God” (v.16). Paul speaks of the same trumpet when he describes the resurrection of the dead at the end of time:
Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:51-53).
Since in Paul’s mind the trumpet is associated with the resurrection of the dead at the end of time, and he speaks of it when describing the “coming of the Lord” in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, we can conclude that the “coming of the Lord” that Paul writes of in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 is the final coming at the end of time.
There’s one last thing that we can say in response. The rapture is often portrayed as a “secret coming” of Jesus. But in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Paul describes Christ’s coming with “the sound of the trumpet of God.” There is nothing secret about descending with the sound of a trumpet!
Let’s now move to the detail in the Gospel reading, which, again, is taken from Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the Ten Virgins. Jesus says,
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, 4 but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. 11 a Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ 12 But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour
The detail that’s relevant for apologetical discussions is the foolish virgins being kept out of the wedding feast.
What is the “wedding feast” an image for? Heaven. Our Lord says it explicitly: “the kingdom of heaven will be like . . . .” Revelation 19 describes heaven as the marriage supper, or wedding feast, of the Lamb.
Now, if the foolish virgins are kept out of the wedding feast, and the wedding feast is an image for heaven, then the virgins are barred from entering heaven. And if they’re barred from entering heaven, then Jesus is teaching us about the reality of Hell.
This has apologetical significance because some Christians deny the reality of Hell and argue that all will eventually be saved. This is a doctrine known as Christian universalism or universal salvation.
Now, someone might counter, “But this text doesn’t speak of the virgins being permanently barred from the wedding feast, i.e., heaven. For this to be a reference to Hell there would need to be evidence of a permanent exclusion. Perhaps the virgins are barred from the wedding feast for a time and then eventually let in.”
I think there are a couple of details that indicate the exclusion from the feast is permanent.
First, note that when the virgins came back, they discovered the door wasn’t just closed but it was “locked.” Since there’s nothing in the text that would suggest it would eventually become unlocked, we’re justified in interpreting this as a permanent exclusion.
Second, the bridegroom, which represents Jesus, says to the foolish virgins, “I do not know you.” This indicates that the bridegroom considers himself to have no relationship with these foolish virgins whatsoever. And this is in response to them asking to be let in. If the bridegroom doesn’t consider himself to have a relationship with them when they’re asking to be let in, then he’s not ever going to consider himself to have a relationship with them. The implication is that having a relationship with the bridegroom is too late. And if it’s too late, then the exclusion from the feast, or heaven, is permanent.
So, contra universalism, Jesus teaches us that Hell is a reality.
Well, my friends, that does it for this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. The 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A doesn’t fall short of apologetical details. It provides us an opportunity to reflect on two items that deal with eschatology—the study of the last things: the Rapture and Hell.
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I hope you have a blessed 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time.
[i] See Hal Lindsey, There’s a New World Coming: An In-depth Analysis of the Book of Revelation (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1984), 77-78.