Bill Cooper 7-25-93
The story of Jesus and Gadiah relies on our knowledge of the Old Testament story of Jonah and the whale. So the first thing we need to do is refresh our memories regarding Jonah.
Jonah was told by God to go to Ninevah and tell the people of Ninevah that their behavior was immensely offensive to God and if they did not mend their ways promptly, God would destroy them and their city in forty days. Now the Ninevahans regularly raided, pillaged and plundered the northern tribes of Israel. Jonah was well aware of their reputation for heartless cruelty and pointless savagery. Jonah no doubt hated them but more importantly, he greatly feared what they would do to him and perhaps to Israel if he delivered the prophecy God had directed. And personally, Jonah preferred that God should destroy Ninevah with no warning and no offer of mercy.
So instead of making the land journey North and East to Ninevah, he boarded a ship at Joppa destined for Tarshish, a kingdom in the south of Spain. This is the opposite direction and the end of the known world from Ninevah. So it is clear that Jonah intended to avoid doing God’s will regarding the message.
Jonah’s ship for Tarshish departed and when well out to sea, it was overtaken by a mighty tempest. The captain required everyone to pray to their respective gods. When this did not quiet the sea, they drew lots to determine who God was angry with. Jonah drew the short straw and confessed that he was running away from the presence of God and from doing God’s will.
Then the men asked Jonah what they must do to get the sea to quiet down. He told them that they must throw him overboard. They were reluctant to do this but to prevent the innocent from perishing; they agreed to cast him into the sea. And so they did.
The scripture says the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Jonah was in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for having been saved by God from the sea and he pledged to honor God with sacrifices. Then God had the fish spit Jonah up on dry land. Then God spoke to Jonah a second time telling him to go to Ninevah. This time he went and to his great disappointment Ninevah repented and was spared.
And that is the story of Jonah that the story of Gadiah and Jesus revolves around.
When Jesus was serving as translator and tutor for Gonod and Ganid, the three spent a few days at Joppa, the port city at the Eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea from which Jonah had departed. While at Joppa, Jesus visited frequently with a young man named Gadiah. Gadiah was a great truth seeker. So, of course, he and Jesus became warm friends.
One evening as Jesus and Gadiah walked and visited together, they strolled down by the sea. Gadiah pointed out to Jesus a ship landing which was reputed to be Jonah’s departure point. Gadiah recounted the Jonah story and ended with the question to Jesus, “But do you suppose the big fish really did swallow Jonah?”
Jesus knew that the story of Jonah being in the fish’s belly was figurative and not actual but he did not say “No of course not. God doesn’t behave that way and it is scientifically unsound.” Jesus understood that the story of Jonah was a tremendous influence on Gadiah and that it had impressed on him the folly of trying to run away from duty. So Jesus carefully said nothing that would suddenly destroy the foundations of Gadiah’s present motivation for practical living.
In answering Jesus said:
“My friend we are all Jonahs with lives to live in accordance with the will of God, and at all times when we seek to escape the present duty of living by running away to far off enticements, we thereby put ourselves in the immediate control of those influences which are not directed by the powers of truth and the forces of righteousness. The flight from the duty of doing God’s will is the sacrifice of truth. The escape from the service of light and life can only result in those distressing conflicts with the difficult whales of selfishness which lead eventually to darkness and death unless such God-forsaking Jonahs shall turn their hearts , even when in the very depths of despair, to seek after God and his goodness. And when such disheartened souls sincerely seek for God – hunger for truth and thirst for righteousness – there is nothing that can hold them in further captivity. No matter into what great depths they may have fallen, when they seek the light with a whole heart, the spirit of the Lord God of heaven will deliver them from their captivity; the evil circumstances of life will spew them out upon the dry land of fresh opportunities for renewed service and wiser living.”
Look at what Jesus has done. He has taken a spiritually outdated story of a demanding, forceful and threatening God and transformed it into a wonderful representation of a loving, merciful and rescuing God.
So it is no surprise that Gadiah was mightily moved by Jesus’ teaching, and they talked long into the night by the seaside, and before they went to their lodgings, they prayed together and for each other.
That is the story of Jesus and Gadiah. It is a wonderfully revealing story of how Jesus relates to all of us. He is a carefully involved listener. He not only hears the words but he also hears the importance of what is being said. He desires to take nothing away suddenly which is part of our motivation for practical living, even if there is factual or scientific error involved. Instead of taking away the error, he adds truth to it so that it becomes a reminder of the truth it now reveals. And the greatest wonder and miracle of it all is that he relates to each of us today through his Spirit of Truth just as lovingly and understandingly as he did in mortal form with Gadiah two thousand years ago.