Thaddeus shifted on his bunk for what seemed like the hundredth time, trying to find the most manageable sleeping position, given the circumstances. Thirteen men were cramped up in a dimly lit room, with only one candle burning at a corner of the room. But actually, that was the least of Thaddeus’ problems. He clapped and hissed in an attempt to kill a mosquito.
“Bruuuh, now you are doing the absolute most. Acting like there are no mosquitoes in Galilee”, James, who was lying adjacent to Thaddeus said. Thaddeus was going to let James’ statement slide but then he heard Andy chuckle from the bunk above him.
“Free me man! You are pretending that this is okay, but I know you are equally pissed. At least I’m brave enough to speak up”. Thaddeus snapped back.
Andy, with his upper body hanging off his bunk, looked down at Thaddeus with the most mischievous grin and said “Err, bro you didn’t speak up. James is just good at interpreting the language of passive aggressive”, finishing off with a laugh.
Philip who was at the other end of the room, decided to chip in the conversation. His bunk was next to the boss’ bunk, but he wasn’t scared of being heard by the boss. One thing they had all come to know was that when the boss slept, he slept deeply. In fact, if he didn’t decide to wake up, nothing could wake him up. The boss seemed to be teleported to another realm whenever he slept. Yet Philip decided to whisper, just in case.
“Listen guys, I’m not bothered as long as nobody gets to take my picture while we are here. Why do you think I have been wearing a hoodie since yesterday?” Philip asked.
“Yo! Mad, mad, mad.” J.I said laughing above Philip. He lowered his hand to give Philip a handshake.
Phil continued whispering, “See, y’all know the boss thinks differently from us. I am cool with following him to any length, but I don’t want to wake up tomorrow to find my picture on Shade Room or TCS. People won’t understand and I have a reputation to protect.”
“Exactly!” Thaddeus exclaimed.
“This is an issue of morality for me. What are we doing here? What does light have to do with darkness? I know Bossman wants to heal and save everyone but can we do it keeping ourselves clean? Never in the history of my family, at least that I know of, has anyone as much as stopped for even a snack in Sin City. Now, here we are, sleeping over! What type of Jews are we?” Thaddeus asked, finally relieved to get things off his chest.
“The type that think like Bossman.” James replied swiftly and continued.
“Listen guys, I get it and I am not judging you. I feel you but like Phil said, Bossman doesn’t think like us. I have learnt that the way he thinks is how God thinks too. From the moment we saw Bossman with that ratchet lady at the well, too passionate to even eat, I knew we were going to sleep over. Guys, if he isn’t concerned about his reputation, then who are we to focus on what people think of us? Look at the number of lives he changed just today. Are you telling me, it is better to choose our cultural and religious biases over that? Guys, forget it. We’ll be here till he decides otherwise. Let’s sleep. Look at Simon and John sleeping like Bossman.
“Nobody sleeps like Bossman”. J.I said, giggling as quietly as he could. Eventually allowing for some quiet in the room and giving mosquitoes the stage to play their symphony.
Ref- John 4:40
