"Yeshua said to his Talmidim, 'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.'"
John 6:12

Tales of the Talmidim

The Obedient Bed Bugs

As Yochanon and his talmidim were walking from city to city, John taught them the words of the scriptures and the commandments of Jesus. The stubborn disciples cried out and said, "Who can keep words and commandments like these?"

"But they are the words of God!" Yochanon sighed. "What good is it to call yourself a disciple if you do not do the things a disciple does?"

"We want to do miracles. That is why we want to be disciples," they said.

"But disciples don't do miracles," Yochanon protested. "Only the LORD does miracles."

That evening they stopped at a lonely roadside inn to spend the night. The room they rented was dirty and unpleasant and there was only one bed. The talmidim said, "We will give the bed to John and the rest of us will spread our cloaks and sleep on the floor."

As Yochanon began to fall asleep, he felt an itching on his leg and a tickling in his ear. He scratched the one and swatted the other and rolled over to sleep again. The bed creaked and groaned beneath him as he turned.

"Now we must sleep because we have many miles to walk tomorrow," he said as he closed his eyes. But no sooner had he closed his eyes then he felt a nibbling at his toes and a squiggling on his nose. He wiggled the one and wrinkled the other and shook the covers. The bed creaked and groaned beneath him as he curled up to go back to sleep.

"Many miles, lots of walking," Yochanon said with a yawn. But no sooner had he curled up his body to go back to sleep then he felt a skittering down his back and slithering across his neck. He felt a crawling across his head and the wriggling of a thousand legs and a creeping here and a scampering there. There were bugs in the bedding! Yochanon knew that there would be no sleeping in that bed.

The talmidim on the floor were swatting and scratching at bugs too.

Yochanon sat up and shook himself all over. Then he said in an angry voice, "I tell you, you bugs, behave yourselves! You must leave your home for tonight and be quiet in one place and keep your distance from the servants of God."

When the talmidim heard John commanding the bugs, they all laughed and laughed and laughed. They were still laughing and snickering as John fell asleep.

The next morning the talmidim got up and saw a large clump of bugs collected by the floor next to the door. They were all alive and crawling and wiggling and writhing and wriggling over each other and under each other and back again, but they stayed in the same spot on the floor next to the door.

When Yochanon awoke, the talmidim pointed to the bugs. He and the talmidim said the morning prayers, had breakfast and prepared to leave the inn. Still the pile of bugs remained on the floor beside the door.

At last John turned to the bugs and said to them, "Since you have behaved yourselves and listened to my voice, go back to your own place." Immediately the bugs scurried to the bed, crawled up the legs, and disappeared into the bedding.

"Teach us how to do that miracle!" the talmidim all said.

Yochanon replied, "I did not do a miracle. The bugs heard a man's voice, and they were obedient to my commands. That is all that happened."

"But bugs don't obey humans," the talmidim objected. "It is a miracle that they obeyed you."

"Neither are human beings in the habit of listening to God's voice and obeying His commands. But if you want to be a miracle, learn a lesson from the bugs," John said. Then the talmidim understood.

What was the lesson Yochanon wanted the disciples to learn?

Would the Master rather have his Talmidim do miracles or obey his commandments?

Kehilat Sar Shalom