“What if people could read about the story of Jonah and the Big Fish and find comfort in friendship, instead of fear of disobeying a Deity?”

That question sits at the heart of government employee Gian Erik Adao’s self-published Filipino reimagination, similarly titled to the original, Si Jonas at ang Malaking Isda. 

For generations, the story of Jonah has been told as a cautionary tale: a prophet who disobeys God, attempts to flee, is swallowed by a great fish, and eventually fulfills his mission in Nineveh. It is a story about obedience under divine authority. 

But Gian’s reimagination approaches it as an exploration of how interpretation shapes belief.

“The Bible is clear, and every denomination is saying that they know the Bible is meant to be interpreted one way over another,” he said. With thousands of denominations claiming the correct reading, the question of which version is definitive lingers.

After all, the Bible exists in translations, fragments, and interpretations compiled across centuries. Canonization determined which manuscripts were included and which were left out. Gian’s story frames itself as a newly uncovered account that casts fresh light on what may have happened to the prophet and the great creature forever tied to his name.

“Higit sa isang muling pagsasalaysay, ito ay isang paggunita. Ng pagkamangha. Ng tapang. Ng pananabik na maging bahagi, na may makasama. Ng mga katotohanang lumulutang lamang kapag pinipili nating makinig at tumingin nang mas malapitan.”

(More than a retelling, it is a narration of wonder, of courage, of longing to be a part, to be with someone. Of truths that only surface when we choose to listen and look closer.)

In Gian’s fingertips, Jonah’s story becomes less about running from God and more about running toward connection.

The story we think we know

In the biblical account, Jonah is commanded to preach repentance to Nineveh, a city described as wicked. Instead, he boards a ship to Tarshish, hoping to escape. A storm follows. He is thrown overboard. A great fish swallows him. After three days, he is released, fulfills his mission, and wrestles with God’s mercy.

It is a narrative deeply embedded in Christian consciousness as a moral lesson about obedience and divine compassion. Gian’s version does not deny the bones of the story. Instead, his synopsis opens with a provocation: 

“Maaring isa ka sa mga nag-aakalang alam na alam ang kwento ni Jonas at ng malaking isda.” The widely known version, it suggests, is based only on manuscripts available at the time. Now, there are newly discovered writings that offer a novel perspective.

(You may be one of those who think they know the story of Jonah and the Big Fish very well.)

The tone moves away from fear. Nineveh is no longer simply a city deserving destruction. “I rewrote the story that Nineveh is a place you wanted to go instead of a place you wanted to avoid,” Gian said. In the original account, Nineveh is the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The city’s culture is known to be wicked and violent, so part of their prophecy is its destruction by God.

The rationale behind Nineveh is that if the people didn’t repent, then they deserved to be killed. He didn’t believe that. “So there’s that kind of attempt in the story to rewrite things.”

The whale, too, is no longer merely an instrument of punishment. “We have projections that are scary that shouldn’t be scary. And it’s because of fear that we are prevented from checking in on those things.” Sometimes what we run from is not punishment, but possibility.

Gian’s story becomes an invitation to look closer and find truths that surface only when we are willing to question what we assume we already understand.

From a painting to prophets

The story began not as a theological project, but as a response to a 2024 writing contest. The prompt featured an artwork of a sharp-toothed fish with a glowing antenna, reminiscent of a deep-sea creature, and a young rider perched on its back.

That image sparked the idea. Jonah and the Big Fish — but with a twist.

What followed was not an attempt to invent entirely new mythologies. In fact, most of the seemingly fantastical elements in Gian’s retelling are lifted directly from Scripture: mysterious hands appearing on walls, parted waters, talking animals, colorful garments, rivers turning red. About 99% of all the events are biblical references.

“If someone reacts like — ‘Is that true? It’s absurd.’ I’ll say yes, that’s also in the Bible.”

Figures like Moses and Noah appear as companions within the narrative world. Their presence functions less as doctrinal reinforcement and more as intertextual echo, which reminds that these stories have always existed in conversation with one another. 

He intentionally removed one element: God. For the retelling to become less about divine command and more about human connection, narratively-speaking, there is no God in Gian’s story. This is because the “God” that exists in Jonah’s original version is the one who included genocide and murder, and he didn’t want that sort of justification for moral realization.

“I really had the intention to not mention God at all and not to make this about God… I felt like maybe the rebellious side of me was thinking this is a better story than the one that God wrote.”

Blasphemy or interpretation?

Any reinterpretation of sacred text risks being labeled blasphemous. The larger tension lies in the question of authority: Who decides the correct application of Scripture? Across thousands of denominations, interpretations vary. Each claims fidelity to the same text.

If interpretation is inevitable, Gian’s story becomes part of that ongoing process.

He does not present his retelling as a replacement for the Bible. Instead, he describes it as a kind of tasting platter, a literary entry point. If readers are drawn to this version, perhaps they will revisit the original text with renewed curiosity.

And if the reinterpretation leads readers toward compassion, toward friendship rather than fear, is that deviation inherently dangerous?

“If you could interpret the Bible toward that end of people loving each other, maybe that’s a better application of the Scripture,” said Gian.

The Bible has long been read as holy Scripture. Gian approaches it as literature as well: a body of stories powerful enough to withstand imaginative reconstruction.

Inside the belly of this rewrite, Jonah is no longer just a prophet running from God. He is a figure searching for companionship, navigating inherited narratives, and daring to imagine that sacred stories can hold space for mortal connection.

Whether one sees that as irreverent or restorative may depend on how one understands Scripture itself as fixed doctrine, or as a living text shaped by the people who read it. – Rappler.com

Claire Masbad is a Rappler intern studying AB Communication Arts at De La Salle University.