Holy Lit

Week 7: Gospel Narrative
Pastor Svea Merry              July 12-13, 2025

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Imagine if you lived in Instagram world and every time you sat down to read your Bible it was in a place like this. I’m tempted to think, “If I could just be on a dock like that with my Bible and a good cup of coffee, I’d feel so close to Jesus.” Do you ever see an image like this and want to grab your Bible and read?

But does it ever happen to you, like it does to me, that sometimes when you sit down to read, you get frustratingly distracted? Or maybe you finish off a chapter in your reading plan and as you check the box that you’ve done it, realize you’d kinda zoned out and don’t remember any of it?

I’ve been there! Anyone who has ever tried to make a habit of reading the Bible has been there, whether new to the Bible, or you’ve been reading it every day for the past few decades. I’m frequently asked, “How can I read the Bible in a way to truly grow closer to Jesus through it?”

What I hope for us today as we move into the Gospels in this series of sermons from the different literary sections of the Bible is that we’ll encounter an amazing story about Jesus and we’ll also gain a new or renewed way of reading the Gospels that will transform us by what we read.

For that reason, this sermon is going to feel a bit different than typical because I am going to try to do two things at once: I’ll preach through a passage in the Gospels, but I also want to offer you a way to engage with these Scriptures that can help you be with Jesus and become more like him.

The passage we’re going to explore today is the true story of when Jesus fed a crowd of thousands with just a little bread and fish. Grab a Bible or use your phone to look up Matthew 14. Matthew is a lot easier to find than Amos was last week. Matthew is the first book in the New Testament, the first of the Gospels, or like the video said, the first of the 4 biographies of Jesus and the good news he brought of the kingdom of God.

As I read this, I’d really like for you to follow along, and as you do, I invite you to focus on Jesus. Pay attention to whatever you can notice about him. Ready? Ok, Matthew 14, starting in verse 13.

¹³ When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

¹⁵ As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

¹⁶ Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷ “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

¹⁸ “Bring them here to me,” he said. ¹⁹ And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. ²⁰ They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. ²¹ The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Great story, isn’t it? And if all we did was read through this and arrive at the classic takeaway that Jesus is capable of abundantly providing for our needs, even in ways that might surprise us, we could be blessed by that. But let’s go deeper.

When reading the Bible, but especially the Gospels, paying attention to two things can invigorate Bible reading. I’ll tell you the first now, and we’ll get to the second in a minute. The first is to constantly ask yourself:

• What do I see about Jesus?

What did you observe about Jesus as we read? Here are a few things Matthew made a point to tell us:

• 13 Jesus withdrew by boat to a solitary place
• 14 When Jesus got there, he had compassion on the crowd that followed him
• 16 He challenged the disciples to work an insurmountable problem
• 18 He took what little they had and expressed thankfulness
• 19 He empowered them to give what he multiplied to the crowd.

There’s certainly more, but that’ll get us started. Now, let’s get curious about Jesus here and really try to discover more about him. Verse 13 tells us he withdrew by boat to a solitary place. But why? The beginning of the verse says he withdrew when he had heard something had happened. Well, what happened? For that, we must look up at what came right before this, and if we do that, in the verse just prior, we see that Jesus had just found out that John the Baptist had been murdered.

John was family to Jesus; their mothers were related. And John had a special role of announcing that the Messiah, the Savior was coming. Jesus loved John and if you were here when I preached in May, you might remember that even when John was wrestling through a dark place in his faith, Jesus still expressed nothing but honor and respect for him. And now we’re seeing Jesus’s reaction to hearing he’s been brutally killed, beheaded because he spoke truth that some powerful people did not want to hear. And Jesus wanted some space to be alone, presumably to process this and to grieve.

That often-overlooked detail puts the beginning of this story in a tender light, doesn’t it? Have you ever pictured Jesus being able to relate to getting news of losing someone you love? I don’t want to claim more than what’s in the text, but I think it’s poignant that Jesus, even though he was God, didn’t brush death off as no big deal, but instead, reacted by wanting to get away and be alone for a bit to deal with this news in a healthy way.

Just noticing this first detail makes me love Jesus even more. It makes me feel compassion for him. And it comforts me knowing that when I experience grief and loss, he understands.

But I’m even more amazed when we see that though he was desiring space for himself, some peace to absorb this news, a time when he deserved compassion, as the crowd chases him down and wants him to do more for them, even a grieving Jesus had the resiliency to react with compassion for the crowd. Isn’t that amazing?

Do you see how rich it can be to mine the text to notice all we can about Jesus, about what he does, about his character, how he lives, how he treats others?

That’s why the first thing to pay attention to as we read the Gospels is:

• What do I see about Jesus?

But then the second thing is:

• How does this help me grow as his follower?

In what you’re reading, how does it deepen your faith, drive your thinking or actions, help you become more like him, or help you engage the world as he did?

For me, Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus grows my love for him as one who has navigated tragedy and loss in this broken world. It grows my respect for him as I see his resiliency enabling him to respond with love for the crowd even when they interrupted him. And all that leads me to have even more confidence that I can boldly turn to him at any time and trust his response.

Good stuff, right? And we haven’t even gotten to the miracle part of the story yet.

A fun thing about the Gospels is that sometimes a story about Jesus is recounted for us in more than one. I specifically chose the Feeding of the 5000 story for today because it’s one of the only events, besides what’s written about the time surrounding Jesus’s death and resurrection, that’s described in all four Gospels giving us access to multiple perspectives like the video mentioned.

Turn a few pages forward in your Bible to the next book, to the end of Mark chapter 6 so you can see another account of this same story, and as we read the first half of it, I want you to again pay attention to what you observe about Jesus as well as anything else that seems significant. Let’s read starting in Mark 6:30.

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹ Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

³² So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. ³³ But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. ³⁴ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Okay! As I compare these two versions, I notice right off the bat this story starts slightly differently than the other. Now it’s not only Jesus, but his disciples too, trying to get away to a solitary place.

Is this a discrepancy between the two accounts and does it mean that what we just saw about Jesus wanting space to be alone wasn’t accurate? No! But I acknowledge that sometimes people who are skeptical of the Bible point to apparent contradictions like this as reasons to doubt its accuracy or authority.

Rather than just tell you this isn’t a concern, let me illustrate. Without telling them why, I asked Pastors Rick, Paul, Caleb, and Otis to talk to me about Ridgefest, our annual fall festival that draws thousands of people from the community to our campus for a day of free fun, food, and activities.

Now most of you are familiar with Ridgefest, either you helped make it happen, or you brought someone you knew would have a great time. But if you’re not familiar with it, here’s how my fellow pastors summarized Ridgefest in a sentence or two.

Pastor Rick, talked about Ridgefest as a way we meet a need for free, safe family fun and to show our community that we love them. He talked about joyful chaos and kids and adults in costumes, playing games and enjoying things like bounce houses.

Pastor Paul expressed that Ridgefest is a way we show amazing hospitality to unchurched people in our community, giving them a non-threatening introduction to our church, and that the day for him is all about great conversations and warm first impressions.

Pastor Caleb who turns into DJ Jazzy Smith to spin tunes and emcee the event, said he loves that Ridgefest brings a wide cross-section of our community together, in really cool costumes, to have a great time of crazy fun and hanging out.

And Pastor Otis whose team spearheads Ridgefest talked about their excitement and anticipation to serve the of thousands of visitors. He expressed pride in the hard work and dedication of all our teams and leaders who make the event a celebration of love and community, just like Jesus would want us to do.

Now, what they had to say is similar, but definitely not the same. Rick gravitated towards the purpose of the event, Paul towards how we show hospitality. Caleb described the fun of seeing so many diverse people coming together, while Otis focused on how our amazing volunteers make the event happen. Despite them all talking about a singular event in such different ways, were any of them wrong or even inaccurate in what they said? Of course not, they all described accurately through their own perspective. And how do you know what they said is true – many of you know because you were there and what they said checks out, or even if you weren’t there, you know they’re trustworthy guys who have no reason to lie about such things.

Reading the Gospels is like this. The writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were all quickly accepted as trustworthy because they had credibility with their audience, and the people and events they wrote about were largely known or remembered by people who were there or by people who knew them. And since what we have now is translated from sources circulating when the accuracy of it all could be verified, we can take all four of the Gospels to be a highly reliable account of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the events that surrounded him.

So, let’s get back to Mark and the differences we just spotted. Right before this story, we see Mark also mentions John the Baptist’s beheading, and right before that about Jesus sending his disciples out to practice bringing the kingdom of God to people. Mark’s account of this story doesn’t conflict with Matthew’s; he’s including another layer of what was going on. Not only had Jesus just gotten this tragic news, the disciples had recently returned from being away from Jesus and now, as we see in verse 31, they’d had a crazy busy day with the throngs of people coming to see Jesus they hadn’t even stopped to eat. So, Jesus generously extends his own desire to withdraw to find some peace and rest to his disciples too.

Matthew kept his focus tight on Jesus. Mark pulls the lens back and we see that not only is Jesus pursuing his own well-being, but he’s also simultaneously watching out for the well-being of his disciples. I think this additional observation about Jesus adds wonderful depth to this story.

Mark also adds a great detail about why Jesus felt compassion for the crowd. In verse 34, it says he saw them like sheep without a shepherd. This helps explain why instead of sending them away in his own pursuit of solitude, he drew them in to care for them.

Later, Mark adds another detail that Matthew skipped and says Jesus directed everyone to sit on the green grass in groups of 100’s and 50’s. Why did he do this? I have absolutely no idea.

But here’s a thread running through Mark’s version: He depicts Jesus as someone who notices people, sees their need, and provides for them with order and care. When the disciples were at the end of a chaotic, exhausting time, he invited them to withdraw to the calm of the boat with him. When the crowd clamored for his attention, he quieted them letting his voice being the one that carried as he taught them, now as he’s preparing to provide for this hungry crowd, he’s got a strategy to ensure that no one is left out or overlooked.

So, if those are a few things we can observe here, how might this grow us as followers of Jesus?

Like the disciples facing the problem of this hungry crowd without any solutions to offer, are you facing anything right now that seems so hard, so complex that you can’t see the solution? As you look to Jesus, He can guide you through what you’re facing with intention and strategy.

Or who here feels overwhelmed, wrung out, weary? The same Jesus who noticed this in his disciples and cared about their well-being, inviting them to get away to the calm with him, sees you too. He watches over you too and invites you into his peace.

OK, are you excited to see what more we can observe in Luke? Good! Turn a few pages forward to Luke chapter 9, and let’s look at the highlight of this story – the miracle. In verse 12, Luke, as in the other Gospels, sets it up with the disciples bringing the problem to Jesus.

¹² Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here.”

¹³ He replied, “You give them something to eat.”

Now, if I were one of the disciples, I think I’d be feeling like this response was a bit unfair. How could Jesus expect them to provide a meal to thousands of people out of thin air? Luke’s account shortens the distance between this story and Jesus sending the disciples out into the villages just prior to this. It was only 10 verses earlier when in verse 3, Luke records that Jesus specifically told them,

“Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt.”

Jesus sent them out in such a way that they couldn’t be self-sufficient. I think Luke is expecting us to still have this in the forefront of our minds when only a few verses later, the tables have turned. Now the disciples are looking at a crowd with so much eagerness to be with Jesus that they chased after him even though they did not have food or a plan for where they’d sleep. The crowd represented people in the position of dependency and faith that Jesus had just challenged in the disciples.

Luke seems to use this episode to reveal a setback in the formation of Jesus’ disciples. The needs of the crowd and their assumption that they, even with Jesus, shouldn’t do anything about it is unveiled as a test to their faith, a test in which they flounder.

Has your faith ever floundered in the face of a daunting problem? Have you ever faced a challenge that felt way too big for you to handle, and you could not see a way forward? If you have, welcome to being human! Yeah, we all have. And what we see in this story is that even people who lived with Jesus for three years and witnessed firsthand what he could do, when faced with a situation that seemed well-beyond their ability to handle it, felt powerless.

So, when Jesus receives the small amount of bread and fish they scrounged up, and incredibly, miraculously multiplies it to an abundance that more than fed the crowd, what do you think he wanted the disciples to learn?

MIRACLES

Hold that thought. Can we talk about miracles for a minute? Because again, for people skeptical of the Bible, miracles can seem far-fetched, or hard to accept as factual.

A common way you hear people define miracles is that they are a temporary suspension of the laws of nature to display a glimpse of the supernatural. That definition makes sense, but there’s one potential shortcoming in it - nowhere in the Bible is a miracle defined that way. The Bible doesn’t set up two distinct worlds, a natural world governed by the laws of physics and a supernatural world that disregards such laws. No, instead, the Bible describes a singular universe created and governed by a God of order and purpose. A God who has every right to design the normative functionality of His creation and to step in and act with power when He chooses.

Some people suggest miracles are a demonstration of God’s power that authenticates the reality of His existence and presence in the world, especially when people are beginning to turn to Him and the church is being established. With my own eyes, I have experienced phenomena in West Africa that I can only attribute to the supernatural, and Christian cultural interpreters affirm that the supernatural is more apparent in cultures just beginning to trust in the way of Jesus.

I don’t disagree that this may be at play. But I cringe whenever I hear someone describe a miracle as a something akin to a party trick that God uses to compel us. Instead, I’m more convinced by this one: that miracles are a special flashforward glimpse of reality in the age to come. A preview, if you will, for what it will be like when we’re no longer living in this broken world, but in paradise with God for eternity.

Jesus’s many acts of healings, and miracles like raising Lazarus from the dead, point us forward to what we all experience when disease and death is no more. The miracles like what we’re studying today, or when Jesus turned water into wine, or when he had the disciples haul up a miraculous catch of fish, all point us forward to a time when He’ll provide abundantly for every resource we need, and we’ll no longer live with scarcity or poverty, or labor to provide for ourselves.

Miracles point forward to the reality waiting for us when we will live with Jesus forever. They aren’t merely a distortion of natural laws; they’re a sneak peak of life in eternity.

So, let’s go back to the question I left you with a minute ago. What do you think Jesus wanted the disciples to learn from observing this miracle? Why do you think he empowered the disciples to distribute the never-ending supply of food to the people?

Don’t you imagine in doing so they experienced something even more profound than if they’d just watched Jesus serve everyone? Don’t you think every time they reached into their basket and found still more food, that with each handful, they internalized, “I didn’t have enough to give. But through Jesus, I have more than I need for myself and for others.”

I think this is one of the most profound things about this miracle. Not just the flashforward display of Jesus’s ability to abundantly provide for all his people, but his wisdom and genius in teaching his followers that though they themselves might not be able to meet the needs of the people looking to them now, he can work through them in ways that exceed what they can do without him.

So, what do you see in Luke’s account that could grow your faith as his follower? For me, it’s the realization that we may be inadequate to meet the needs that surround us, but Jesus has power to provide. This miracle helps me to trust that he can do through me what I cannot do in my own strength.

What are you working through that feels like it’s going to take more than you have to give? Have you brought Jesus into that with you yet?

JOHN

Well, we’ve reached our fourth and final Gospel: John. And he has some wonderful additions for us too. Flip forward to John chapter 6. It’s in John that we finally see the fun detail that it was a young boy who contributed the 5 small barley loaves and 2 small fish. And John names names about who said what which is kind of a John thing to do. He’s not afraid to throw a bit of shade at times.

But, John answers a big question that the others left out. And that is: “How did the crowd react to this miracle?” Matthew, Mark, and Luke, never mention the crowd’s reaction, and if we only read them, we could be left wondering if the crowd even realized what was happening.

John’s Gospel leaves no doubt that they knew, and they were substantially impacted by what they experienced. At the end of the story, after the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of leftover bread, John adds,

¹⁴ After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Whoa, right?! The crowd saw it. They realized what was happening. And they were impressed! They wanted to force a regime change and make Jesus their king!

Later in this chapter, we see that even though Jesus slipped away, the crowd again chased after him. And when they caught up, he challenged their motives.

“Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.”

Jesus knew their motives. They were chasing him for the wrong reasons. They loved the miracle but missed the meaning. And this becomes the setup for one of Jesus’s most powerful teachings:
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

In other words, this miracle was never just about bread. It wasn’t a party trick to impress people with a display of supernatural power. It was about revealing that making Jesus our Lord and following his way in all things is what satisfies the deepest needs of the human soul.

Let’s take in what we’ve seen about Jesus in this story told four ways:

• In Matthew, Jesus is the compassionate Messiah who provides even while grieving, still able to care for others.
• In Mark, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who brings order to chaos and intentionally leads the crowd andhis tired disciples into what they need.
• In Luke, Jesus is the wise teacher, who intentionally meets needs, even miraculously, and also instructs us through what we experience.
• And in John, Jesus is the Bread of Life—the miracle itself a sign pointing to who he truly is as provider of our eternal, not just our immediate needs.

If you’re in a season of grief, like Jesus in Matthew...
Or exhaustion, like the disciples in Mark...
Or discouragement from faltering faith like in Luke...
Or maybe you’ve been pursuing Jesus only for what he can give you, like the crowd in John...
This story is for you.

How will it help you grow in your faith as Jesus’s follower? What will you do with what you’ve encountered of him here? Will you bring your hunger in whatever form that takes to Jesus? Will you trust him to provide what he knows you need? Jesus doesn’t just want to feed your stomach; he wants to feed your soul. He is the Bread of Life that will never run out. Turn to him. Trust him. Follow him.

Let’s pray