The Myth Of Jonah

FRI., JAN. 6, 1989, 5:58 AM
FARM, STUDY

“Myth” is an interesting word, for it represents an interesting concept. A myth is a story with truth, but the events of the story may or may not have actually happened as in the story… or at all. In your culture there is too much emphasis on provable truth and “it really happened that way” and too little regard for the truth that resides much better in myths.

The Holy Scriptures are part myth, but they are all truth… actually Truth… so it matters not which stories are myth and which actually happened. I shall not say that the story involving Jonah did not happen. With Me, anything is possible, so the whole story could have occurred just as it is written. The truth of it is what is important, however, not the factual accuracy.

The myth of Jonah commences with Me, as Almighty God, calling him to a specific task. Some would find even this unbelievable, but you certainly can’t. The difference is that Jonah did not want to fulfill what I wanted him to do. What if I had called you to preach for repentance on the streets of Carbondale… or Honolulu? The truth is that while mostly I offer humans tasks that are quite compatible with their talents and their being, occasionally I “pull a Jonah” and call on someone to do something that is truly distasteful.

You know why I would do this. I have many ways to encourage spiritual growth, just as you have many ways to encourage learning. Some ways will put a person to a real test. Such it was with Jonah. And his response was to “run the other way.” He knew that he couldn’t finally run from Me, but he had to give it a try. All of this is still plausible to you and to others who believe in My powers or who have actually experienced a call. For others it has no apparent reality.

Then I intervened by creating a storm. The ship was small and the sea was large, in comparison. Some believed that this was a storm of retribution. Jonah, according to the myth, knew it. The truth is that I can bring retribution, and a person, knowing she has not fulfilled My call, can recognize this extreme action as aimed at her. There is no way to prove this to those who do not know or believe. The story simply proclaims it as truth.

Actually, of course, you know it is not retribution, not punishment, but simply a very vivid way of getting attention and letting a person know that I care enough to be violently present. Johan knew this, for he knew what I wanted him to do, and he knew what he was doing, in response. But the lives of other were in danger. Jonah was willing to sail away from Me, but he was a man of developed spirit (otherwise there would have been no story), so he was unwilling to have others suffer and perish because of him.

So he confessed that he was the cause of the storm, and jumped overboard with the conviction that this would either abate the storm or lighten the ship so that it could survive. He was giving up his life for others. This, certainly, would have been noble, and it was a fine spiritual act. Yet it was also another way of “running away.” So, the myth goes, I sent a large fish to swallow Jonah and take him where I wanted him to be. If you fret about lack of oxygen and about digestive juices and the movement of “food” down the digestive tract then the story seems untrue.

The truth is that I can use many means, even unusual, “impossible” ones to achieve what I want. When Jonah was regurgitated upon the shore he was ready to do what I wanted, and he did it with zeal. Still, is it likely that the preaching of one man on the sinfulness of them is likely to radically change a ruler and all of the people? The truth is that one person can accomplish incredibly, when he is doing My will… with My help.

So repentance reigned instead of destruction. And Jonah was unhappy and mad. He had not expected to succeed in his preaching. He had expected that his prophesy of destruction would be carried out. He counted on My being a vengeful God, Who would destroy as He had warned. He was not prepared for success and for My responding in forgiveness. He wanted justice, not grace. And he expected this of Me.