Let’s call it a hint of the “nudge nudge, wink wink” class.
It’s the Fifth Joyful Mystery in the Catholic rosary, making it one of the most meditated-upon scenes in the Gospels.
It’s also significant for being the first time (chronologically in Jesus’ life) that he himself declares that God is his father and demonstrates an uncanny wisdom beyond his years.
E: Also
The 5 most important points in the story of Jesus are supposed to be the baptism, transfiguration, crucifixion and ascension. They’re very end-loaded.
Between the baptism and the transfiguration, which points matter most?
How about between the transfiguration and the crucifixion?
With the caveats that the chronology is sometimes unsure and that what matters most is subject to disagreement.
Would someone who knows more than I offer similar accounts for Moses and Mohammed? They need not be as detailed.
You said “5” but only listed four. I assume you meant to include the resurrection?
Some would include his birth as well. Certainly it’s one of the most widely celebrated points (Christmas), and is mentioned in many of the most famous Christian creeds (like the Apostles’ Creed and, if you count “was incarnate and made man,” the Nicene Creed), which don’t mention the baptism or the transfiguration, but do mention his second coming as a future “point in the story of Jesus.”
I’d also be inclined to include the Last Supper on the list, as perhaps more important than the baptism or the transfiguration, since that event is commemorated regularly in Christian worship (and it’s one of the few events from Jesus’s life that Paul mentions in the writing we have by him).
I work in mysterious ways.
Yes, taking it from here:
“Transfiguration is one of the five major milestones in the gospel narrative of the life of Jesus, the others being Baptism, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension”
If I were going to add anything, it would be his interaction with the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7):
This represents a turning point in Jesus’ ministry - it is the first (recorded) miracle that he performs for a Gentile and seems to be the first time he acknowledges that non-Jews may claim a part in God’s Kingdom as well. This was very important in the following decades when the faith went from being a mostly Jewish sect to a majority non-Jewish religion.
Thanks, I didn’t know about that one.
Can someone explain it to me, both the literal and metaphorical meaning?
I’m not sure what the mother’s point is. “We treat even our dogs well”?
You missed the point.
Jesus gives us His name, His authority, His relationship with the Father, His (Holy) Spirit in oneness with the Father:
We are Jesus, We are God’s child with the exact same relationship with God as Jesus has.
And you missed Saul’s conversion (to Paul) and Revelation.
Are you wanting to be limited to the gospels, or any section of the Bible? Because in Acts, Judas falls down and bursts open.
Jesus is being purposefully harsh to make a point to the disciples around him-- to break down the wall between them and the Gentiles by showing them that everyone, not just Jews, deserves to be saved. So to make this point, he calls the woman (and basically all non-Jews) dogs, hoping to illicit the reaction from those around him of “Holy cow, dude, that’s harsh!” The woman persists with Jesus, and shows great faith in him despite not fitting into the mold of someone his disciples would expect Jesus to associate with (female, Gentile). So yes, Jesus refers to her and all Gentiles as dogs, and she says, ‘OK, but even us dogs [Gentiles] deserve scraps [some saving grace] from people [you] now and then.’ Basically, throw me a bone here, man; my little girl is sick and I have faith you can heal her.
So Jesus did. He made a point that it was her faith, not her national origin, that brought about healing.
Are there any other dick moves in the Bible from Jesus?
There was that time he was hungry and got mad at a fig tree for not bearing any fruit. So he cursed it and it withered away:
I’ve always thought he was being kind of a dick to that poor fig tree, though in Jesus’ defense, he was really hungry at the time. Blame it on low blood pressure, I suppose.
I guess it’s from that point onward that God hated figs.
Exorcising demons and sending them into a herd of pigs which then are driven off a cliff or into the ocean or something.
Also, Barrabbas, the guy the Jews could have chosen to crucify instead of Jesus for some reason, but didn’t.
Did Moses have a period of hesitation/doubt/refusal of the call when YHWH appeared to him and commanded him to free the Hebrews?
Jesus went in the desert to meditate after being told he was the son of God. Mohammed had a 3 year down period of should-I-stay-or-should-I-go after Gabriel appeared to him in the cave and gave him his first revelation.
Anything like that for Moses or Buddha?
Hard to say. Then again, this week I’ve already been called a “Cathaholic” . The person involved flaunted that their personal religion like a Sacred Fart, but it’s above question here. And it’s not like I haven’t heard this brand of Racism sung on the street every Ash Wednesday since I was born.
He made clay birds fly.
THE ARABIC GOSPEL OF THE INFANCY OF THE SAVIOUR
36. Now, when the Lord Jesus had completed seven years from His birth, on a certain day He was occupied with boys of His own age. For they were playing among clay, from which they were making images of asses, oxen, birds, and other animals; and each one boasting of his skill, was praising his own work. Then the Lord Jesus said to the boys: The images that I have made I will order to walk. The boys asked Him whether then he were the son of the Creator; and the Lord Jesus bade them walk. And they immediately began to leap; and then, when He had given them leave, they again stood still. And He had made figures of birds and sparrows, which flew when He told them to fly, and stood still when He told them to stand, and ate and drank when He handed them food and drink. After the boys had gone away and told this to their parents, their fathers said to them: My sons, take care not to keep company with him again, for he is a wizard: flee from him, therefore, and avoid him, and do not play with him again after this.
Of course this didn’t, for some reason, make the Bible cut. It is a good read though. Jesus does several other miracles therein.
Moses didn’t doubt the call, but he doubted he was the person to answer it.
Exodus Chapter 3
But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Chapter 4
Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
Chapter 6
But Moses said to the LORD, “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
Maybe throw in the Sermon on the Mount? It’s a bigger deal than most of the rest, and isn’t couched in parables. Maybe even mention the Lord’s Prayer and the Golden Rule?
I am tempted to definte “salient” here as meaning something that is given by all 4 gospels which more or less agree.
So, for example, the nativity stuff is out. Only 2 discuss it and they have big differences. The first salient event is the baptism.
OTOH, that means the Easter Sunday stuff is out, too. Who went to the tomb and what did they see? No consistency there.
But I think most people would hesitate on crossing that one off the list.
So it comes down to your particular religious views (like all things Christian). I am a big fan of the Sermon on the Mount. But I don’t see the Transfiguration as anything other than a myth and one with no relevance to Christian practice at that.