Pastor's Blog

November 01st, 2025

11/1/2025

The season of Pentecost continues on during this unusual time of the year. This Sunday celebrates another important festival in the church year, that of All Saints’ Day. And it is no coincidence that this day comes right after the celebration of Reformation Day.

Dr. Martin Luther posted ninety-five theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517, in an effort to get the discussion started regarding some of the things he knew were distracting people from the Gospel. And Dr. Luther knew that there would be a significant amount of people coming into the church on November 1, to celebrate All Saints’ Day. That was a day when the all saints were remembered, especially those who recently passed away. The importance of that day, along with the importance of the Gospel, as well as Dr. Luther’s gift of articulating these important issues, those things all combined to start a Reformation.

The texts for All Saints’ Day fit well with focusing on the gifts Christ gives to us and to others around us. If you are interested, the three readings for this Sunday are as follows: Revelation 7:9-17 (with the option of including verses 2 through 8), 1 John 3:1-3, and Matthew 5:1-12. If you interested in knowing the Gospel Reading that is associated with the number of Sundays after Pentecost, it is now the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, and that Gospel Reading is Luke 19:1-10.

It may be obvious with the chapter number of that last Gospel Reading, but we are very close to the end of this Gospel Account. If you have been following the writings of this website, you would know that we are EXTREMELY close to the end of that Gospel Account, the Gospel according to Luke. This is seen in that the last of these writings covered the first part of his resurrection, and this is from the last chapter of that account.

It was said before, and it is good to say it again, that there is a significant amount of diversity when it comes to comparing the resurrection accounts from the four Gospel Accounts. A significant amount of diversity has already been happening earlier in the texts, but this particular time in Jesus’ life attracts more attention. After all, he died on the cross, and then he came back to life. That does not happen every day, although it will happen A LOT on the Last Day.

Without doubting the historicity of the event, it may also be helpful to connect the following account, that of Jesus’ appearance to the two on the road to Emmaus, as a similarity to people who are on their path of life, and then, all of a sudden, Jesus appears. And he makes a significant difference. (Now the fact that the village of Emmaus has not definitely been found also does not decrease the historicity of the event, but that fact certainly makes it easier to apply to the present-day Christians.)

If this is the first time in dealing with the writings of this website, several things should be noted. First of all, it should be stated that what follows is an EXTREMELY literal translation of the text. Hopefully it will still be helpful for you. It is recommended that a study bible or at least another translation of this section of scripture is close at hand.

The words below appear in the order in which they appear in the language of the New Testament, ancient Greek. In general, the verbs (with their particular endings) usually appear at the beginning of the sentences. They can also appear in other places because of their special form,  along with the special forms of the nouns. A proper emphasis should be given the verbs or other words which appear before the verbs. (This happens in the first paragraph below, with both the two and Jesus.) An emphasis also is made when words are repeated.

It should also be stated that the hyphens below are meant to show how many English words are in a single Greek word. And the English words that are often chosen within this translation are designed to show how often the Greek words are somewhat similar to the English. And some of the words in English were also chosen to show how rare some of the words in Greek were. After all, this account was written by a doctor, and a doctor often uses a lot of rare words.

What follows is an EXTREMELY literal translation of Luke 24:13-35, sometimes summarized by the phrase, “On the road to Emmaus”:

And  behold,  two  from  them,  in  that,  the  day,  they-were  journeying  into  a-village being-distant,  stadia  sixty  from  Jerusalem,  whose  name  Emmaus;  and  they,  they-were-conversing  toward  each-other  about  all  the  things-having-occurred,  these.  And  it-happened  in  the  to-converse,  them,  and  to-jointly-search,  and  himself,  Jesus,  having-drawn-near,  he-was-journeying-with  them;  now  the  eyes  of-them,  they-were-being-held,  of-the  not  to-recognize  him.

Now  he-said  toward  them,  “What  the  words,  these,  which  you-anti-throw  toward  each-other,  walking?”

And  they-stood  gloomy.  Now  having-answered,  one  by-name  Cleopas,  he-said  toward  him,  “You,  only  you-are-inhabiting-alone  in-Jerusalem,  and  not  you-know  the-things  happening  in  her,  in  the  days,  these?”

And  he-said  to-them,  “What-things?”

Now  the-ones  said  to-him,  “The-things  concerning  Jesus  of-the  Nazareth,  who  he-became  a-man,  prophet,  powerful  in  work  and  word,  in-front-of  the  God  and  all  the  people,  how  both  they-gave-over  him,  the  archpriests  and  the  arches  of-us,  into  judgment  of-death,  and  they-crucified  him.  Now  we,  we-were-hoping  that he,  he-is  the-one  being-about  to-redeem  the  Israel;  but-on-the-contrary,  indeed,  and  with  all  these-things,  third,  this  day,  it-leads  from  which  these-things  happened.  But-on-the-contrary,  also  women,  some  from  us,  they-stood-out  us,  having-happened  at-dawn   upon  the  tomb,  and  not  having-found  the  body  of-him,  they-came  saying  also  a-vision  of-angels  to-have-seen,  who  they-say  him  to-live.  And  they-went-away,  some  of-the-ones  with  us,  upon  the  tomb,  and  they-found  thus  just-as  also  the  women  said;   now  him,  not  they-saw.”

And  he,  he-said  toward  them,  “O  unintelligent-ones  and  slow  in-the  heart,  the  to-believe  upon  all-things  which  they-spoke,  the  prophets;  yes-not  these-things  it-was-necessary  to-suffer,  the  Christ  and  to-come-into,  into  the  glory  of-him?”  And  having-begun  from  Moses  and  from  all  the  Prophets,  he-interpreted  to-them  in  all  the  Writings,  the-things  concerning  himself.

And  they-drew-near  into  the  village  which  they-were-journeying,  and  he,  he-did-toward  farther  to-journey.  And  they-forced-along  him,  saying,  “Remain  with  us,  because  toward  evening  it-is,  and  it-has-declined,  already  the  day.”  And  he-came-into,  the  to-remain  with  them.

And  it-happened  in  the  to-recline,  he,  with  them,  having-taken  the  bread,  he-eulogized  and  having-broken,  he-was-giving-upon  to-them.  Now  of-them,  they-were-opened-up,  the  eyes,  and  they-recognized  him;  and  he,  not-visible  he-became  from  them.  And  they-said  toward  each-other,  “Yes-not  the  heart  of-us  burning,  it-was  in  us,  as  he-was-talking  to-us  in  the  way,  as  he-was-opening-up  to-us  the  Writings?”

And  having-risen-up,  the-same,  in-the  hour,  they-returned  into  Jerusalem,  and  they-found,  having-been-collected  the  eleven,  and  the-ones  with  them,  saying,  “Indeed  he-was-raised,  the  Lord,  and  he-appeared  to-Simon.”  And  they,  they-were-exegeting  the-things  in  the  way,  and  how  he-was-known  to-them  in  the  breaking  of-the  bread.

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