Seeing Jesus – part 1

Apr 12, 2026 • Rory Mosley

031 Seeing Jesus – part 1

Mark 6:30-52

April 12, 2026

This morning we come upon perhaps the most famous miracle of Jesus,

With the only exception being His resurrection from the dead.

The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle, aside from the resurrection, that is recorded in all 4 gospel accounts.

Each of the gospel writers recognized it as significant and important.

An obvious point to be made are the CREATIVE POWER of Jesus.

His deity is on full display as Jesus literally

Keeps creating more bread and more fish right in His bare hands.

ONLY GOD COULD DO SUCH A THING.

And Jesus makes it look easy.

But as we are looking at MARK’S VERSION,

You probably noticed that we are looking at it in conjunction with

Jesus’ miracle of walking on water and there is a reason for that.

From Mark’s telling it is imperative

That you see these two miraculous feats together.

Matthew gives the miracle focusing on the great ministry heart of Jesus.

· Matthew links this miracle to Jesus have just learned about John being beheaded and desiring to get away from the crowd.

· And yet, moved with compassion, Jesus feeds and ministers to this crowd anyway, even when the disciples desired to send the crowd away.

· For Matthew it is a great testimony to the meek and compassionate savior of men.

Luke seems to focus on the requirements of ministry,

· He highlights Jesus’ love

· He reveals the trust that the disciples would need to be effective.

· The disciples are to learn ministry from Jesus.

John focuses on the blindness of the crowd.

· Though they instantly wanted to make Him king,

· By the end of the chapter they all defect

· Because they refuse to see that He Himself is actually the bread which came down from heaven.

Each of the gospel writers loved this story.

But, because we are studying Mark’s gospel,

We are interested in Mark’s purpose and point.

What is it that we are supposed to see?

Why did Mark include this story?

There are certainly details that Mark DID NOT INCLUDE.

John tells us that it was Jesus initiated the question about food with the disciples.

John 6:5-6 “Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?” This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do.”

It is also John who tells us that it was Andrew who searched out the boy with the 5 loaves and two fish.

John 6:8-9 “One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”

When we get to the miracle of walking on water, Mark omits the part about Peter stepping out of the boat.

Again, the goal is NOT an exhaustive re-telling.

Mark is making a point, and that is what we want to see.

And I’ll confess to you that all we’re going to do this morning

Is introduce this miracle from Mark’s perspective.

· There is some background and history that you need to understand before we walk through it, and that’s what we’ll see.

· Well work through these miracles in detail tonight.

SO THIS MORNING let me introduce this miracle to you,

And show you the issue you need to pay attention to.

ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL to our understanding of this miracle from Mark is actually found at the end of the second miracle in our text.

· First Mark records Jesus feeding the 5,000

· Then Mark records the miracle of Jesus walking on water.

The key to understanding the miracle from Mark’s perspective

Comes at the end of that second miracle.

Mark 6:51-52 “Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.”

ISN’T THAT INTERESTING?

While there are a lot of points that can be made about the feeding of the 5,000, the point Mark is most interested in

Is that the disciples learned nothing from it.

“they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves”

· Whatever they were supposed to learn…they didn’t.

· Whatever they were supposed to see…they didn’t.

· Whatever they were supposed to comprehend…they didn’t.

In fact, Mark doesn’t end there.

He says, “but their heart was hardened.”

OUCH!

WE’VE SEEN THAT BEFORE.

Remember earlier in the synagogue when Jesus approached that man with the withered hand?

· The Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if Jesus healed on the

Sabbath.

Mark 3:5 “After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”

Now it is important to note WHY Jesus was grieved.

· Certainly He was angry at their lack of compassion.

· Certainly He was bothered that they would rather a man keep his withered

hand.

But the hardness of heart that grieved Him

Had more to do with their lack of ability to see who He was.

If you will remember the way chapter 2 in Mark ended,

Jesus had just revealed Himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath.

· But the Pharisees couldn’t see it.

· In fact, they wouldn’t see it.

In part it would be their hardness of heart that would inspire Jesus

To preach that famous parable of the sower

And reference the hard-hearted nature of soil that won’t take the seed.

And now, here we are in chapter 6

And we find out that the disciples have also demonstrated

The same type of response to Jesus that we saw in the Pharisees.

“but their heart was hardened.”

To be certain the disciples were not antagonistic to Jesus.

To be certain the disciples did not oppose Jesus.

BUT THE FACT REMAINS THAT

Like the Pharisees before them, they had failed to see Jesus.

They also were not getting it.

“They had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.”

THAT IS A PROBLEM.

And that reveals to us the basis for which Mark includes this miracle.

For Mark, the feeding of the 5,000

Was a miracle that the disciples did not understand.

As we noted already, when JOHN shared the miracle,

The entire point was about how the crowd failed to get it.

We remember that crowd following Him and wanting more food.

John 6:26 “Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.”

· All they cared about was filling their stomachs.

· They didn’t get the point.

In fact the crowd would go on and Jesus would correct them.

John 6:30-35 “So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

Clearly the crowd missed the point.

· They wanted literal bread when Jesus was the bread.

· They wanted a dinner roll when Jesus offered them salvation.

They missed the point and ultimately at the end of the chapter

They all defected and quit following Him.

It was a tragic scene.

But Mark reveals that, at least at the beginning,

The disciples had not been any better than the crowd.

They didn’t get it either.

They, like the crowd,

Had also failed to rightly understand who He was.

AND IF YOU WERE WITH US A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO

When we were last in Mark

You will remember that this is the segment where Mark is now taking us.

I told you then that Mark has entered a new segment.

If you weren’t with us two Sunday nights ago,

You need to see this to stay in tune with Mark’s point.

In Mark 6:7 Jesus began to send out the disciples to preach and cast out demons.

They were so successful that the popularity of Jesus reached a fever pitch and even the local rulers of the day (like Herod) could no longer ignore Him.

Mark introduced to us the story about Herod executing John the Baptist.

But there was an important point there.

Mark 6:14-16 “And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” But others were saying, “He is Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

We’re not going to go all back through Herod’s fear,

But you do need to see that Mark introduced to you a current reality.

People don’t know who Jesus is.

Some think He’s a prophet, some think He’s Elijah,

Some think He’s John the Baptist risen from the dead.

From that point we enter a segment in Mark’s gospel

That highlights that confusion.

We see incident after incident where people fail to see who Jesus really is

And you’ll even see Him frustrated at the fact.

And then let me show you where the segment ends.

Mark 8:27-31 “Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?” They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.” And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.” And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

Do you see where the same point comes up again?

Who do people say that I am?

· That has been the problem.

But that time, Peter gets it right.

Finally, Peter recognizes Him.

And after the disciples rightly identify who He is,

Jesus then reveals what He came to do, which is to die.

SO YOU UNDERSTAND THE CURRENT SEGMENT.

From Mark 6:7-8:30 we are in this exhausting segment in Mark’s gospel

In which no one is able to really see Jesus.

And unfortunately that includes even the disciples,

As we will begin to see this morning.

Now first, let’s ask the obvious question:

HOW COULD THE DISCIPLES POSSIBLY NOT KNOW AT THIS POINT?

· They’ve already seen Him cast out demons.

· They’ve seen Him cleanse lepers.

· They’ve seen Him forgive sinners.

· They’ve seen Him heal paralytics.

· They’ve seen Him heal many diseases.

· They’ve seen Him raise the dead.

· They’ve seen Him calm the storm.

· They even just returned from a mission trip in which they themselves were able

to work miracles in His name.

How in the world is it that they still didn’t know who He was?

That’s NOT what we mean by them not knowing Him.

They knew who He was.

· In the sense that they knew Him to be the Messiah.

· That’s why they were following Him.

I would even go so far as to say that they recognized His deity.

That incident with Him calming the storm must have been certainly confirming to them.

If you had given them a multiple choice test which asked:

Who is Jesus?

A. A man

B. The Messiah

C. The Son of God

D. All of the Above

I think they would have answered “D”.

This failure to see Him wasn’t about identifying Him.

SO YOU ASK,

Then what do you mean they didn’t recognize Him?

What do you mean “they gained no insight from the incident with the loaves”?

Well this morning I need to SET THE STAGE for this miracle a little bit.

TURN TO: NUMBERS 20:1-13

· You likely remember that story.

· You also likely remember that this was the second time this had happened.

· The Israelites had already grumbled very early on in their wilderness wanderings about not having water, and God had already delivered water from the rock for them before.

In fact, that first rock produced a stream of water

That followed them throughout their wilderness wanderings for 40 years.

But now, Israel is on the verge of entering the Promised Land

And it would seem that that initial water supply is drying up.

The people grumble, and again God sends Moses to a rock for water.

Moses strikes the rock, and God is angry at Moses.

Now obviously there is some confusion as to the real problem.

· Some have pointed out that God told Moses to speak to the rock, but Moses instead struck it.

· Some have pointed out how Moses seemed to exalt himself by saying, “shall WE bring forth water for you”.

· Some have pointed out that Moses was angry because Israel was about to commit the same sin they had at the beginning of the wanderings, and by bringing a new flow of water from the rock, perhaps they were about to start this cycle all over again.

But here is what God said.

(12) “But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

God gives Moses the reason for his judgment.

“Because you have not believed Me”

I hope you see that.

Are we really going to accuse Moses of being a non-believer?

· Of course not.

· So what was meant by “you have not believed Me”?

God said, “to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel”

It was Moses failure to set God apart as Holy before the people

That God equated as Moses’ unbelief.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Maybe you remember from our STUDY ON SANCTIFICATION

That we talk about God’s holiness in two realities.

1. Moral holiness – He never sins.

2. Majestic holiness – He is set apart.

Exodus 15:11 “Who is like You among the gods, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?”

1 Samuel 2:2 “There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God.”

We understand God to be to both perfect and unique.

THERE IS NONE LIKE HIM.

He is set apart from us.

We are not like Him.

He is not like us.

But on this day Moses treated God

As though He were no higher than he or Aaron.

When Moses lumped himself into that “WE bring forth water” statement,

He in effect brought God down to his level, as his equal.

When Moses improvised the command to speak to the rock, by striking it,

He put his plan and ideas on par with God’s.

Certainly Moses knew God was God.

Certainly Moses believed in God.

But on that day, Moses had gravely miscalculated his own importance

And put himself on the same level with God.

THUS, HE DIDN’T TREAT GOD AS HOLY.

And God punished him, by not letting him enter the land of promise.

Now, go back to the disciples in the story of feeding the 5,000.

· They are fresh off of their missionary crusade.

· They also have been healing diseases, casting out demons, and preaching the

kingdom.

· Certainly they have done it all in Jesus’ name, but they have been doing it.

· I would imagine they have had a fair bit of glory of their own in that trip.

And they are about to commit the same sin as Moses.

It’s NOT that they didn’t know Jesus is the Messiah.

It’s NOT that they didn’t know He is God.

It’s that they are starting to become routine with it.

They are starting to see themselves more as equals than as servants.

That is PROBLEMATIC on a number of levels.

For one, it robs Christ of the glory that He alone deserves.

· He is unique.

· He is set apart.

· There is none like Him.

· He is holy.

· He must be recognized and treated as Holy.

The other problem it produces self-confidence and lessens our dependence on Jesus for all things..

If you start to bring Christ down to your level,

Or if you start to exalt yourself up to His level,

The inevitable effect is that your need for Jesus will decline.

All of that is in play here with the disciples.

YOU’RE GOING TO SEE IT.

The crowd shows up and the disciples start trying to make decisions regarding what’s best for the crowd.

(35-36) “When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

· Did the disciples really approach Jesus with their own advice as if their

wisdom should be heard at all at that moment?

Even when Jesus commands that the people should be fed,

The disciples argue with Him and point out how bizarre His thinking is.

(37) “But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?”

· Did they really just argue with Jesus that His plan was unsustainable or

irrational?

DO YOU SEE THE ARROGANCE?

Do you see the failure to treat Him as holy?

THEY DIDN’T SEE JESUS

As capable of anything more than they were capable of.

As any more necessary to the ministry than they were.

That’s why after He feeds the crowd

There is no mention of them being astounded or amazed.

That is also why Jesus will

Put them in that difficult scenario on the sea and walk out to them.

He will show them, that they are not on the same level at all.

THAT IS WHAT I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND HERE.

That is Mark’s point.

The disciples, like everyone else are failing to see Jesus.

At this moment, to them, He has lost His awe and wonder.

JESUS IS ABOUT TO GET IT BACK.

Now, let’s apply that quickly to our lives.

If I were to give you that multiple choice test:

Who is Jesus?

A. A man

B. The Messiah

C. God

D. All of the above

I am confident that you’d get the answer right too.

But can it be that we can know who Jesus is

And still not rightly recognize Him?

Can it be that we might know the facts about His person but still not rightly treat Him as holy?

Can it be that we might have the answers about Him, but still not gain any insight from miracles like the feeding of the 5,000?

THAT IS A DEFINITE POSSIBILITY.

OUR GOAL IS TO RIGHTLY RECOGNIZE JESUS.

Not just recognize Him in regard to His person,

But also recognize His holiness, His uniqueness, His necessity,

And His sufficiency in our lives.

We want to recognize that He is truly man,

· But also that He is the holiest man who ever lived and the One who supplies us with imputed righteousness.

We want to recognize that He is the Messiah,

· But also that He is our reigning Lord and the One we submit and bow down to.

We want to recognize that He is God,

· But also that He is set apart and above us in every way.

· That in Him we live and move and exist, and that apart from Him we can do nothing.

It’s more than just being theologically accurate.

It’s about awe and wonder and trust and need.

This is what the disciples are failing to see

And it’s what Jesus is about to teach them.

Now, I know that is a really long introduction into this miracle of feeding the 5,000, but I want you to know where Mark is coming from.

Now, let me give you ANOTHER ASPECT of introduction to this text

That will help you understand it from Mark’s perspective.

You now see what Mark is showing you,

Let me also show you THE ANALOGY he is using.

Do you see where this miracle narrative begins?

(30-32) “The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.”

We’ll talk about it more tonight, but I grasp this one point first.

THEY ARE ON A JOURNEY SEEKING REST.

Take special note of that.

I also want you to recognize

Where they have journeyed in order to obtain rest.

“They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.”

And again:

(35) “When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late;”

They have journeyed seeking rest.

Their journey led them into a secluded and desolate land.

You got that?

Then we run into an incident

Where a multitude needs to eat, but there is no food.

And then Jesus miraculously provides bread for the people to eat so that they are satisfied.

THE PARALLEL IS UNMISTAKABLE.

Exodus 16:1-7 “Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. “On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your grumblings against the Lord; and what are we, that you grumble against us?”

That is the same scene here.

· We have a new wilderness wandering.

· We have a new hungry crowd.

· We have God providing bread from heaven.

· We have the entire congregation failing to recognize it.

John revealed that this new crowd was just like the old, failing to recognize the God who gave them bread from heaven.

Mark is revealing that the disciples are falling into the same trap as Moses, failing to exalt God as holy.

DO YOU SEE THAT PARALLEL?

THAT GIVES US INSIGHT INTO THIS MIRACLE.

We know why God allowed the people to get hungry

And then miraculously provided for them.

Deuteronomy 8:1-3 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. “You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.”

The hunger God allowed them to experience was on purpose.

· God was teaching them that having bread is not security.

· Having Him in their midst is security.

· They didn’t need a week’s supply of provisions, they had the Provider.

· God is essential, He is set apart, He is the most important

Is that not the point men are failing to see

Even here in this miracle of the feeding of the 5,000?

Men are arguing for bread while the true bread is right there with them.

The disciples see a lack of bread as an insurmountable problem,

While the bread of life is in their midst.

They may know who Jesus is,

But they are grossly underestimating His value at the present.

THEY SEE HIM, BUT THEY ARE NOT SEEING HIM.

AND LET’S JUST CLOSE this morning by reminding you that THIS IS NOT OK WITH GOD.

TURN TO: PSALMS 95

David begins by reminding us

What a privileged people we are to have such a great God in our midst.

The first 5 verses highlight the greatness of God.

(3) “For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods,”

· He alone is creator.

· He alone is sustainer.

· He alone is provider.

· And because of this we should “sing for joy to the LORD”

· We should “shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation”

· We should “come before His presence with thanksgiving”

A great God deserves great recognition.

But what is somewhat impersonal in verses 1-5

Becomes very personal in verses 6-7

In verse 3 He is “a great God”, but in verse 7 “He is our God”.

· He is not some distant God of creation,

· He is an ever-present God of salvation.

· He is our Shepherd, we are His sheep.

· And thus we are called “to kneel before the LORD our Maker.”

All of creation is called to praise the great God.

Those He has redeemed are even more obligated.

The whole world should be able to recognize the greatness of His power in creation.

Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

All of creation should recognize Him in that sense.

But those of us who have been redeemed should recognize even more.

· We should see Him as our God.

· We should see Him as our Shepherd.

· We should see Him as our King.

· We should bow to Him.

· We should honor Him.

· We should trust Him.

AND THAT WAS THE PROBLEM.

Those who should know Him don’t.

Those who should honor Him don’t.

Those who should worship Him don’t.

That was the problem with the Israelites in the wilderness.

That is the problem with this crowd here.

And notice what God thinks of such blindness.

(7b-11) “Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. “Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

They never truly recognized God and thus they never entered His rest.

And here we are again in Mark 6.

There is a promise of rest available

And men are again making the same mistake their fathers made.

They are once again failing to see Him.

They are failing to recognize Him as holy.

They are failing to value Him.

They are failing to trust Him.

At this moment, even the disciples.

The crowd will never recover from this.

· They will defect and ultimately crucify Christ.

The disciples will have their eyes and ears opened by Christ