Alon Kossonogi is part of the family that established the Yigal Allon Museum. In fact his grandfather was Yigal Allon and he was part of the core team that brought about the founding of the State of Israel. The museum was established in Kibbutz Ginosar in honor of Allon. His friends and supporters wanted it to be a way to educate people about Israel and the specific area where the Museum is located.

After the “Jesus Boat” was excavated it was placed in the Museum for all to see. A few years later a film was made about the discovery and excavation of the boat. Its title is “The Jesus Boat Revealed” and it was released on DVD on March 10, 2010. The film tells the background and impact of “The Jesus Boat.”

Talking with Alon Kossonogi I learned his family was very much involved in the creation of the film, with Alon serving as the Executive Producer. “We wanted it to tell the whole story about the discovery and then the excavation. There were a lot of problems to overcome at every step,” he said. “There were also miraculous things that happened.”

When asked about “the miracles”, he replied. “The boat was found in the Sea of Galilee which is full of fresh water. A boat that had been sunk there should have lasted no more than fifty to sixty years. All the material of the boat should have been destroyed but the carbon dating tests placed the boat back to the time of Christ.

Something else that occurred was when they were excavating the boat the drought broke and there was rain in abundance. When there was a break in the weather there was a double rainbow in the sky over the Sea of Galilee and those are very rare. It was like a sign from God,” he continued. “The rainbows and the end of the drought were pretty special occurrences.”

Alon told me there had been people opposed to calling the boat “The Jesus Boat.” “Some just wanted to call it the ‘Galilee Boat’ and not bring Jesus into it. Others though felt the boat was from Jesus’ time and it was located in an area where Jesus was known to have lived. I mean we aren’t calling it ‘The Jesus Boat’ because it has to be a boat that belonged to Jesus. We are just saying it is a boat from Jesus’ time.”

Alon said his family wanted the movie made to show the story of the fishermen finding the boat, the excavation of the boat, and the placing of it in the museum. “When it came time to excavate the boat there was no money to pay for trained workers to come in and do it. The people who did it were all volunteers. That is another one of the miraculous things that happened.”

Talon added that the story of the “volunteers” is shown in the film along with interviews with the fishermen and with people who have worked on the project of getting the boat restored. There are also options presented as to what the boat really represents. Is it a boat that Jesus used or was it one used by his disciples? Or was it a boat used during a battle between the Romans and the Jews around the time of Christ? It is left up to the individuals who see the film to make their own determination.

The DVD is available through Amazon.com and also through jesusboatshop.com. When asked if there are plans to do follow up movies Alon answered, “There has been talk of a feature film or maybe an animated film of some kind. There are a lot of things we are considering. But the important thing right now is to get the word out about the documentary which is ‘The Jesus Boat Revealed’.”

Was the discovery and reclamation of the Jesus Boat a miracle? You will have to watch the film and make up your own mind. Alon knows what he thinks but each individual must find his or her own answers.