Few narratives are recorded in all four Gospels (see comments for more information), so when we find an account in all four, we must note that it is significantly important to the Gospel narrative.  Similarly, if a passage found in two of the synoptics is affirmed in John, it carries a similar Gospel weight.

One story that is found in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6 is the Feeding of the Five Thousand.  While there are other miraculous feedings recorded in the Gospels, this is the only one found in all four.  Knowing this, it can be easy to wonder what the Gospel significance in this particular story holds over any of the other feedings.

The significance is multiplied by the fact that the very next passage in Matthew, Mark, and John is Jesus Walking on the Water.  This is not the only account of Jesus calming a storm, but it is the only one told by more than one author.  Both passages carry import Gospel weight, and this weight is seen by their juxtaposition.

Jesus miraculously feeds a multitude in the wilderness, then he divinely protects his disciples as they cross a body of water.  It is essential that these two events happen back to back, because they reflect another account of a juxtaposed feeding in the wilderness and divine crossing of a body of water safely.

In Exodus 14, God leads His people through Moses to the edge of the Red Sea.  As the Egyptians are approaching, they cry out to God, and he guides them across the sea on dry ground to the other side.  After a time of rejoicing, God immediately provides water (Exo 15) and bread (Exo 16) in the wilderness.  

God led His people across the water safely, and God fed the multitude in the wilderness.  The accounts in the Gospels do more than just tell of two interesting miracles Jesus performed.  They affirm Jesus Christ is God.  

The reason why the order of events are switched is also important.  There is a poetic device where a pair of words, images, or ideas are repeated in reverse order; and the reverse is always to draw attention to the importance of the words, images, or ideas.  This device is called a chiasm.

“Chi” is the Greek letter “X”, so if you imagine the two thoughts written out, then reversed in the line underneath, you would need to draw an “X” to match the original ideas together.  I do not believe it is a coincidence that the word “Christ” in Greek begins with the letter “X”, and that the letter “X” resembles a Cross.

The God claim in the chiasm is further expanded in Mark’s narrative of the walking on the water.  In Mark 6:48, it says that Jesus “meant to pass them by.”  On the surface, this sounds like it meant that Jesus meant to cross the sea unnoticed; but this does not agree with God’s omnipotence.  If God is all powerful He would neither need to cross the sea (even on foot!) nor would He ever accidentally be seen crossing the sea if it was His intention to pass by unnoticed.

“Pass them by” must then mean something else.  

In Exodus 33, Moses is on Mount Sinai with God, and God offers Moses a chance to have anything.  Moses asks God to show him His glory.  This was not a little task, because a full on view would kill Moses.  Instead, God places Moses in a crack in the mountain; and as God “passed him by”, Moses was able to catch a glimpse of His glory out of his peripheral vision.

Jesus did not intend to walk passed His disciples unnoticed.  Just the opposite!  He meant to show His disciples that He was God.

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After the crossing of the Sea of Galilee, Matthew and Mark depict a narrative of Jesus’ healings, but John’s Gospel shares a narrative of Jesus being approached by many of the five thousand who had recently been fed by Jesus.  They asked him for more bread and Jesus told them that more bread would only lead to more empty stomachs.  What they really needed to be satisfied was to eat of His flesh and drink of His blood.

Today, we hear this language and we are familiar with it.  We eat his flesh and drink his blood every week, and we are about to do so again; but when Jesus said these words, there was no context of communio, and the multitude was perplexed to say the least.  But, to those close to Jesus, to those who truly did seek him and trust him, this eerie message made perfect sense.

In Luke’s Gospel, after the feeding of the five thousand, instead of Jesus walking on the water, Luke skips to another narrative that is recorded in all four Gospels -- Peter confessing the Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Peter witnessed the feeding, he even took home a basket of leftovers; he witnessed Jesus walking on the water and even joined Him momentarily; and when Jesus told the crowd to eat His flesh and drink His blood, he said “Yes.”  

Later, he would partake in the first communion, in full belief that Jesus was God.  Today, we join with him.