How would you feel if you were being followed by a stranger and when you asked them what they wanted, they said “Where do you live?”. Many of us would…not think highly of that person. That’s putting it generously. But that’s exactly how the disciples of Jesus acted toward Jesus. They didn’t fall on their knees and ask for forgiveness for their sins (even though they knew He had the power to take away their sins). They were hungry to spend time with Jesus. So much so that they did the…’quirky’ thing. They stalked Jesus.
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”. When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”. They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”. “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
John 1:35-39
I haven’t spent too much time thinking about what it would be like to be John the Baptist. As I read this passage I imagine it being such a joy to just say, “There He is”, and watch as person after person’s guard crumbles and tumbles to the ground. It must have been a joy to see them filled with awe, passion, devotion, hunger, love, desperation to be in the presence of the one they were made to worship with their entire being. They were thrilled to hear His voice and to have their lives forever transformed as they were even sent out from His presence, challenged and equipped to be powerful representations of the living God on the Earth.