This narrative is told in Matthew 13:1-3,

Mark 4 Mark 4 is the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It tells the parable of the Sower, with its explanation, and the parable of the Mustard Seed. Both of these parables are paralleled in Matthew and ...

:1, and Luke 5:1-3. Owing to the vast crowds that followed him from the surrounding towns and villages to listen to his doctrine, Jesus retired to the sea coast. There he entered a boat, that he used as a

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

, and addressed the crowd on the shore. The narrative occurs as an introduction to a set of Jesus' parable teachings, which starts with the

Parable of the Sower The Parable of the Sower (sometimes called the Parable of the Soils) is a Parables of Jesus, parable of Jesus found in , , and the apocrypha, extra-canonical Gospel of Thomas. Jesus tells of a farmer who sows seed indiscriminately. Some seed ...

. Numerous artists have made this event the subject of their artwork, including,

James Tissot Jacques Joseph Tissot (; 15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902), better known as James Tissot ( , ), was a French painter, illustrator, and caricaturist. He was born to a drapery merchant and a milliner and decided to pursue a career in art at a y ...

and Alexandre Bida.

Narrative

Lukian version

Commentary

4th-century

Hilary of Poitiers Hilary of Poitiers (; ) was Bishop of Poitiers and a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" () and the " Athanasius of the West". His name comes from the Latin word for happy or cheerful. In addition t ...

comments on why Jesus sat in the ship, while the crowd remained on the shore, writing, "for He was about to speak in parables, and by this action signifies that they who were without the Church could have no understanding of the Divine Word. The ship offers a type of the Church, within which the word of life is placed, and is preached to those without, and who as being barren sand cannot understand it."

17th-century

Cornelius a Lapide Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide (''né'' Cornelis Cornelissen van den Steen; 28 December 1567 – 12 March 1637) was a Flemish Catholic priest. He was a Jesuit and exegete of Sacred Scripture. Life Lapide was born in Bocholt, Belgium. He studied hu ...

notes that when Jesus, as was his custom, had finished preaching in His house in Capernaum, He sent away the crowd so they might attend to themselves, and that He should allow some rest and food for Himself and His disciples. However, since He knew that the crowds were about to come to Him in such numbers that His house could not accommodate them, He left to the wide, open shore of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...

. There he used a boat as a pulpit and preached to the crowd on the shore.

19th-century (Catholic)

John McEvilly John McEvilly (1818–1902) was an Irish Roman Catholic Church clergyman who served as the Archbishop of Tuam from 1881 to 1902. He was born on 15 April 1818 in Louisburgh, a small town near Westport, County Mayo, Ireland., ''The Episcopal Su ...

comments on the words “many things,” (Matt 13:3) writing, "most likely, He spoke much more than is here recorded. For, if every thing which Jesus did, was written, “the world itself would not be able to contain the books that should be written”" (John 21:25). A number of commentators have used this episode to support the

primacy of Peter The primacy of Peter, also known as Petrine primacy (from the ), is the position of preeminence that is attributed to Peter among the Twelve Apostles. Primacy of Peter among the Apostles The '' Evangelical Dictionary of Theology'' illustrate ...

, since Jesus uses Peter's boat to preach from, and Peter would later become the foremost disciple among the apostles for preaching himself (see

Acts 2 Acts 2 is the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition asserted that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke ...

Gallery of art

File:175 Life of Christ Phillip Medhurst Collection 4360 Christ teaching by the sea side Mark 4.1 Dutch Bible.jpg, A print from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations (Dutch Bible) File:24 Mark’s Gospel F. various teachings image 3 of 3. preaching from a ship. French School.png, Preaching from a ship. French School. In the Bowyer Bible in Bolton Museum File:A Boat Was Once Again His Pulpit by W. J. Morgan c. 1890.jpg, Jesus preaching from a boat near shore. W. J. Morgan (1890) File:De prediking op het Meer van Galilea, SK-A-511.jpg, Extensive landscape with Christ standing on a fishing boat (1600-1700) File:James Smetham - Christ preaching to the multitudes.jpg, Pencil, pen and black ink, watercolour and bodycolour painting by J. Smetham. File:The Sermon on the Sea of Galilee by Jan Brueghel (I) Johnny Van Haeften 2006.jpg, Jan Brueghel the Elder, The Sermon on the Sea of Galilee, 1597

References

{{Authority control Gospel of Matthew Sea of Galilee Doctrines and teachings of Jesus