1At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus, 2and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptizer. He is risen from the dead. That is why these powers work in him.” 3For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 4For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. 6But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced among them and pleased Herod. 7Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask. 8She, being prompted by her mother, said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.”
9The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given, 10and he sent and beheaded John in the prison. 11His head was brought on a platter and given to the young lady; and she brought it to her mother. 12His disciples came, took the body, and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. 13Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.
14Jesus went out, and he saw a great multitude. He had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15When evening had come, his disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.”
16But Jesus said to them, “They don’t need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
17They told him, “We only have here five loaves and two fish.”
18He said, “Bring them here to me.” 19He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass; and he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20They all ate and were filled. They took up twelve baskets full of that which remained left over from the broken pieces. 21Those who ate were about five thousand men, in addition to women and children.
22Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone. 24But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, distressed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. 25In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It’s a ghost!” and they cried out for fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”
28Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.”
29He said, “Come!”
Peter stepped down from the boat and walked on the waters to come to Jesus. 30But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32When they got up into the boat, the wind ceased. 33Those who were in the boat came and worshiped him, saying, “You are truly the Son of God!”
34When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35When the people of that place recognized him, they sent into all that surrounding region and brought to him all who were sick; 36and they begged him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment. As many as touched it were made whole.
One of the most significant finds to come from the Sea of Galilee occurred in 1986, when two brothers, Moshe and Yuval Lufan, came upon a boat that was buried in the mud near the shore of the lake constructed sometime between 120 B.C. and A.D. 40. Until this discovery the only understanding of first century fishing boats came from drawings.
Moshe and Yuval lived at the kibbutz at Nof Ginosaur and often searched the shores of the lake Kinneret (aka Sea of Galilee) in search of objects from the lake. In 1986 the lake was at its lowest level in several years due to a drought. Upon finding the boat, archaeologists were immediately contacted and the boat was encased in a preservative and immersed in a vat of special liquids for nearly a dozen years, and is now on display at the Nof Ginosaur Museum at the kibbutz by the lake.
There is general agreement among scholars that this is likely the type of boat that would have been used by Jesus and the disciples. However, even though the boat has often been called the "Jesus Boat" there is little likelihood that Jesus had ever sailed in the boat, but certainly this type of boat would have been in view when one reads the biblical accounts of the fishing on the Sea of Galilee, His stilling of the storms, and other stories in the Gospels connected with a fishing boat. The boat is believed to hold up to 15 people, so the stories of Jesus and his 12 disciples traveling in a fishing boat are clearly reasonable.
For more information, see my article on p. 262 in the Price and House, Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology.
Further Reading:
Jack Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus and the Beginning of the Early Church (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), 82; Shelly Wachsmann, The Sea of Galilee Boat: A 2000 Year Old Discovery From the Sea of Legends (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2009), 254-55.