Matthew 13:2
And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. The crowd that gathered was so large that Jesus uses a boat as a floating pulpit — the crowd stands on the beach while Jesus teaches from the water. The visual image communicates the scale of the audience and the creative problem-solving that Jesus' ministry required. The boat-and-beach arrangement is the natural amphitheater of the Galilean lakeside.