The intoxicating Countenance of the Glorious Stranger and the stunning reverberations of John’s ‘HINEI – SEH HA-ELOHIM!’ declaration had my inner-child’s heart deliciously all a-flutter.

 In my Hebrew spirit I was dancing like David danced, and singing like Miryam sang.

  But alas, my grown-up, Greek-speaking, religiously-trained natural mind was having a hard time joining in.

My heart was leaping with joy; but my mind kept thinking things like “Foolishness!” and “Blasphemy!”.

Sometimes, Dear Reader, it is amazing how VASTLY the Greek-educated mind over-estimates its own intelligence!

John’s breathless ‘HINEI! SEH HA-ELOHIM!’ declaration was the only introduction we had to the Glorious Stranger. While at the River that day He had not even looked in our direction, much less spoken to us.  He had not uttered a word of teaching or spoken so much as a ‘Shalom’ in our hearing.

But when we saw Him walking away, going back to wherever He came . . . well, we could not bear to just let Him go.

We looked at John. He smiled a gentle smile as if to say “B’SEDER” [it is alright or in order].

And that is when Andrei and I took the first fateful steps in what was to become a lifetime of following after the Man Whom John had called the LAMB OF GOD.

He and his brother Sh’mon were fishermen from Beit-Tzaida, near Kafer-Nahum. You probably know his brother as ‘Simon’ or ‘Simon Peter’.

And who am I, you ask? That will be revealed in good time.

You must understand, however, from the outset, that the story you are reading is not about me. This story is about the Glorious Stranger I met at the River that fateful day.

Do you know the Glorious Stranger, Dear Reader?  If you do not know Him, it is my prayer that through this journal you will come to know Him and love Him as I do.  And if you do know Him, it is my prayer that through this journal you will come to know and love Him in the fullness of your own unique way, and even more than I ever could. For He is worthy. 

 – Ha-Talmid

 Time seemed to stand still there by the River that day as our eyes drank in the sight of the Stranger. Who knows how long my companion and I stood there in awkward silence.

And then our ears heard something like a groan burst forth from deep within John’s soul. We looked at him and saw that his countenance had changed completely. His weathered facial features shone like those of a newborn child. His familiar expression of fierce intensity had melted into sweet peace and childlike joy.

The next words out of John’s lips were to us like what you might consider a nursery rhyme. From toddlerhood we had heard of our ancestor Avraham [Ah-V'RAH-em]. One of our favorite stories was about Avraham and Yitschak [whom you call Isaac] climbing Mount Moriyah to become the first Hebrews to worship in that holy place. Halfway up the hill Yitschak paused and asked his father a very difficult question: “AYEH HA-SEH? [Where is the lamb?]”

So you see Beloved, what we heard John doing that day at the River was simply answering Yitschak’s question: ‘HINEH! SEH HA-ELOHIM! [Behold, the lamb of God!"]

 – Ha-Talmid

  We had not as of yet heard the Glorious Stranger speak a single word.

  We had not seen Him do a single miracle.

  We had no reason at that moment to believe that He ever would.

  He was a man of the earth like us. He was no taller, more broad-shouldered, or more handsome than the  rest of us at the River that day.

And yet something about His Countenance drew us to Him in a most captivating way. It was as if He KNEW that we would be here at the River today, that we would gasp when we saw Him, and that we would be captivated by Him. And all we wanted to do was get to know Him.

We just had no idea how.

I had stumbled upon John a few months before the Stranger showed up at the Jordan that day. Like most of my countryment, I was sick to death at the mockery of Roman architecture Herod had made of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem [through back-breaking taxes he collected from us, of course]. And I had become totally disillusioned with the policies of the corrupt Sadducean High Priesthood which Rome controlled with carrot and stick and sold to the highest bidder.

I had been looking for something REAL, something about which I could be PASSIONATE again, and John had re-introduced me to hope.

I did not know it yet, but the Glorious Stranger John now bid me to BEHOLD was about to lead me into much, much more!

– Ha-Talmid

Ha-Talmid - the Follower/Disciple

We stood alongside the River Jordan. We had gone there to be with John, as we had many, many times before. We absolutely loved to hear John call people into the muddy waters. We ourselves had rushed to meet him there.

This particular day, however, was going to turn out to be very, very special.  On this day, SomeOne Else was coming to the River as well.

And as a result of the SomeOne Else we were about to encounter, our lives were about to change forever.

At first we did not even know His name. We just heard John gasp and whisper with trembling lips: ‘HINEI!” [Behold!]. And then our eyes lit upon His frame, and we gasped as well – though we did not yet have any understanding as to why.

Understanding would come in time. For now it was enough for us just to BEHOLD Him.

Have you BEHELD Him lately, Dear Reader?

Pursuant to His Covenant with our forefathers the Holy One has a vested interest in building a relationship with us and the members of our households forever. How does He go about this relationship-building? First of all He builds relationships with us by causing both revelation about Him and communion with Him to ebb and flow. He always knows ‘just the right time’ to introduce a new characteristic or aspect of His Divine personality into the relationship AND just the right time to withdraw strategically in such a way as to make the hunger build within us.

The sooner we realize that walking with the Master involves a Divinely-designed, pre-ordered process of stages, phases, and paradigm shifts, and that it is always He Who leads in the Divine Dance, the sooner we become comfortable with our part in the process – which is merely to embrace what the Holy One is doing, follow His lead, and let Him put His thoughts and passions and priorities into human form in a way the world can see and understand.

As the Master said to Shaul of Tarsus on the Road to Damascus, ‘Why do you kick against the goads?’