Born Stevlin Hardaway Judkins to Calvin Judgins and Lula May Hardaway on May 13, 1950, in Saginaw, Michigan.
He was born six weeks mature, premature rather, with a condition called retinopathy, which meant when he was born, he was born blind.
But even with this disability, he made his landmark as a pioneer and innovator in the music industry.
His mother, Lulamey, and his family moved to Detroit when Stevlin was four years old.
She changed his name from Stevlin Judkins to Stevlin Morris.
And he showed an early gift for music, first with his church choir in Detroit, and then later with a range of instruments, including the piano, the drums, and the harmonica, all which he taught himself before the age of 10.
He was discovered by Gerald White, who persuaded his brother Ronnie White, who was a famous singer at the time, to visit and listen to him perform.
Ronnie, after seeing Stevlin perform at age 11, invited him and his mother to Motown Records to visit Barry Gordy, a name you might know.
Barry Gordy wasn't that impressed, though, by his singing or by his drumming, but he was impressed when Stevlin played the harmonica.
In fact, he was amazed.
And so in 1961, at the age of 11, Stevlin was signed by Motown Records with a stage name that reflected his amazing ability to play musical instruments while singing.
His stage name was A Little Wonder.
He released his first number one hit in 1963 at 12 years old.
The hit was a half-improvised fingertips part two, recorded live in concert.
In fact, it was the first pop single ever to reach number one.
Listening to the recording, you can actually hear the musicians struggling to keep up with the young musician as he improvises.
And at one point in the recording, you can even hear a musician shouting, What key?
What key?
The song was added to his debut album, and he became the first singer ever to record a number one album and a number one single simultaneously.
He dropped little from his stage name as his voice began to change.
And he wrote hits like Uptight, Everything's Alright, and he even wrote a song for Smokey Robinson called A Miracle of Tears.
I'm sorry, The Mirac for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Tears of a Clown.
Other songs, which were big hits in the 60s and 70s, were I Was Made to Love Her for Once in My Life and signed, sealed, and delivered.
I'm yours, which he stated was an idea that he'd gotten from his mother.
And if you've not guessed it by now, Stevie Wonder went on to receive 21 Grammy Awards, his first at the age of 23.
And he was inducted into the Hall of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the age of 33.
So Stevie Wonder was a child prodigy.
And this is uh similar but not quite the same situation you have with Jesus, uh, where he astonished his parents and he amazed his teachers.
And we're going to look more closely at that passage.
So imagine this was Jerusalem back in the first century, and every year Jesus' family went to the Feast of Passover, and that was like a 60-mile walk because they walked to Jerusalem.
They would basically do about 20 miles each day.
So if you can imagine, that's that's 20 miles.
That's like from here to Decatur, day one, Decatur to Conyers, day two, and Conyers to Social Circle.
Anyone know what's in social circle?
I know my wife does.
It's the Blue Willow Inn, which is a great place to eat.
It's like this old, any any of you been there?
There, a few.
It's like this old house, southern cooking, very nice.
You'd enjoy it.
Lynn took me there once on my birthday.
It was a lot of fun.
But so 60 miles, 20 miles each day, all the way to all the way to social circle, and they've arrived in Jerusalem.
So Passover is one of three major festivals to which the Jews would make a pilgrimage.
Um, this was the most important of the three.
And it was especially important for the uh all good Jews, especially men, to make this this uh trip every year.
Um that Joseph and Mary both went along with their family, and by this time Jesus would have had brothers and sisters, so you know, several of them went along.
That that tells us a lot about their family.
They were very devout Jews.
So why Jerusalem?
Jerusalem, because that's where the temple was, and the temple was where God's presence was.
So it's you know very different than the way that we think of God today.
It's like I've I've got we've got to go to Jerusalem where the temple is so we can be in the presence of God.
And that's that's the way they would have thought back in the first century.
The temple, by the way, nothing like our church.
Um it, as I said, is a place where God dwelled.
It was where the Jewish people went to meet with God, but they couldn't meet directly with God.
They had to meet with God through a priest.
And so, if you can imagine, they they have this wonderful temple where God dwelled.
But God dwelled in one place in the temple.
It was called the Holy of Holies.
And the Holy of Holies was inside the holy place, and the holy place was inside the courtyard.
And the courtyard was a place that only the priests could go.
The holy of holies, where God actually dwelt, only the high priest could go, and he could only go once a year to actually meet with God.
And we're not going to talk about that today, but that was that was a very holy, a very awe-inspiring, a very special day when the high priest went in and actually physically met with God with his presence.
Um, this was not the first time, by the way, that Jesus had been to the temple.
The very first time is recorded back in Luke 2, verse 22.
And it was when Mary and Joseph took Jesus up for his purification to the temple, which was something that the male children, babies, uh, went through when they were born.
Basically, that's where when he was circumcised.
And it was not the first time that Mary had been amazed by God.
And you remember, the first time was probably, no doubt, when when here's Mary, this, I don't know, maybe maybe 13-year-old teenager, and and God comes to her and says, says, Mary, do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God.
And that that in itself is amazing.
But then he tells her, and behold, you will receive, conceive, rather, in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
And there were other times that Mary was amazed.
Remember, and Russ talked about this a couple of weeks ago, remember when Mary, after she was pregnant, went to visit her cousin Elizabeth.
And Elizabeth was pregnant, of course, with with John the Baptist.
And when Elizabeth saw Mary and heard Mary, John the Baptist in Elizabeth's womb jumped.
And they were both amazed.
And then when the shepherds visited the stable after Jesus was born, remember that?
And then another time when Mary and Joseph had taken Jesus to the temple for circumcision, they were amazed when they met Simeon and Anna, the prophet and the prophetess, and both of them told about who Jesus was.
And so Mary and Joseph, no doubt, they knew and they understand, understood who Jesus was.
And this is important because as I began to study this passage, um, I thought, boy, how on earth am I gonna preach this?
And then there's something in it that is even more amazing than what we're looking at right now.
And now I'm not gonna, it surprised me, and I'm not gonna tell you what that is until we get there.
It'll be just a minute.
And so anyway, um, here Mary and Joseph, they made the three-day trek to Jerusalem.
They were probably there about a week, participating in the feasts and the festivities.
Most important, they participated in the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb.
And it's important to mention that because you remember the Passover Lamb, a type of Christ, who would be Christ, who would be the real Passover Lamb.
So all of the the entire um the entire week, everything that happened, if you study it and think about it, it's all pointing to Jesus.
And Jesus, that 12-year-old boy who is now in the town in Jerusalem where the Passover um uh sacrifice is being made, which will one day be him.
Anyway, by the end of the week, um they've they've had all of the feasts, all of the festivities, they're on their way home.
Um they're on their way home and they're making that first day trek, and then Jesus stays behind.
This is kind of an interesting thing because we think of Jesus as Jesus never did anything wrong.
He never sinned.
And so you're thinking, well, the 12-year-old Jesus stayed behind, that's that's not good, is it?
And Mary and Joseph, one whole day of travel, and they didn't know he's not with them.
And you think, well, gosh, that that too is not very good.
I mean, his parents aren't really watching out.
And um, but if you think about it, first century Jerusalem, first century Jews, that that's not uncommon.
It would have been a big crowd of people, it would have been a lot of relatives, a lot of friends, and they were all together.
And so I'm sure it was uh um quite normal for the children to be apart from their parents.
Nonetheless, um, no doubt Mary and Joseph had a couple of sleepless nights.
And if you think about it, it's it's kind of like leaving your child in target.
And I'm I'm sure nobody here has ever done that, but I'm sure one of the things that some of you have done is when you're in the parking lot about to leave, you look in the back seat and count if I got them all.
But you know, you kind of those are things parents kind of worry about, leaving leaving their children.
I've never done that.
Um I will confess one thing I did do once was I left one of our daughters when she was a baby on the changing table one night.
And in in my defense, we had we had twins, so there were I put two of them to bed.
I was tired, and I I just lost count.
So she she was on the changing table, and Lynn comes in and finds Laura on the changing table, which, as you can imagine, was not good for me.
So they walked a whole day back to Jerusalem and began looking for Jesus.
And I'll bet you that was a long day for Joseph.
Um, because I'm sure it was his fault.
Anyway, they they found they found Jesus and he was sitting in the temple.
Um He was sitting in the temple.
Think about this.
Jesus was sitting in the temple, the very place of God's presence.
Um he had been there three days, and all who heard him were amazed.
And I, boy, I really, don't you just wonder, what on earth were were they talking about?
Like Jesus was asking questions and he was answering questions, and what what was that like?
And and you know, we talked about Stevie Wonder being a child prodigy, and some people say, well, Jesus must have been a child prodigy because obviously he had an uncanny understanding about life, and he had an uncanny understanding of the Old Testament.
But but maybe I think more likely Jesus was a lot more than a child prodigy.
Um but but nonetheless, they were amazed.
I mean, think about this.
It's like the carpenter's son sitting with the PhD theologians.
I mean, it just I don't even make sense.
And so Mary and Joseph finally find him.
There he is, sitting with the these these teachers, and they're just astonished.
Um but but Mary then says, son, why have you treated us so?
And so it sounds like Mary is scolding or admonishing Jesus.
And I'm thinking, and and I would if it was my child, you know, running off and being gone, and I'm searching for him for three days.
And and I think it's understandable that she did that, but um for sure she didn't understand what was really going on here.
And this is not the last time, by the way, for Mary that'll happen.
When when Jesus does something that she simply doesn't understand.
Um in fact, Jesus did a lot of things that the people that were closest to him didn't understand.
In fact, Jesus does things in my life, in your life, that I don't understand and that you don't understand.
Um three days of worrying about where is Jesus, what what has happened to him, um, how do we respond to those kinds of unexpected difficulties?
Because we have them.
We have them in our lives.
We have them all the time.
When when when troubles happen and we simply don't understand what's going on when when Jesus seems to be absent from our lives, it's um it's like, and Jesus is going to speak up in a minute, but it's like I I think in my own life I realize that sometimes my understanding of Jesus is just too small.
I I don't see the big picture, I don't see what's really going on here, and yes, I'm going through a difficult time, but there's something much bigger that's going on, that's even better than what I can comprehend.
Um so, like Mary, we can't always see the big picture.
Um certainly Jesus was much bigger than Mary's frantic search for him, and he's much bigger than the circumstances of our less than perfect lives.
So what is it that that Jesus, or why did Jesus rather stay behind in the first place?
And that that that's kind of an interesting thing to contemplate, and and I can think of two possible reasons.
One was to be in God's presence.
And why would Jesus want to be in God's presence?
Because Jesus is, of course, God's son.
And and then the second reason, and we're gonna see it in a minute, I think to make a statement about God.
The teachers were amazed, his parents were astonished, and and I'm I was blown away by what he says next.
Because he says, he says to them, Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my father's house?
By the way, these are the first recorded words of Jesus.
Think about that.
And you think, well, wait a minute, he's like talking back to his mom?
Why are you looking for me?
His response seems disrespectful, and if one of my children had wandered off and it took me three days to find them, and then they responded to me with a question, that wouldn't have been good.
But I don't think that's what's going on here.
Um in my father's house is actually an interesting phrase because some of your Bibles will have I'm about my father's business, which sounds different.
But, and I'm no Greek scholar, but I went and looked up what somebody else said about this passage, and they said, What the literal translation is in thee of my father.
So the translation's not exactly clear, but what is clear is that he says, My father.
Think about that for a minute.
And Mary, by the way, is speechless.
When Jesus said, My father, and I looked this up, that was a first.
No one had ever said that about God, my father.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, they didn't say it.
Joseph never said, My father.
Moses never said my father, David never said my father.
Jesus was the first.
And and and think about this a little bit more, you have to understand the way the Jews thought.
Um to the Jew, to say, my father in reference to God was just completely unthinkable.
I mean, unthinkable, not in the sense of you should never do that.
Unthinkable in the sense, I would never think of to say that because it's just inconceivable.
God, who is untouchable, unsearchable, unknowable, and beyond such casual mention, God's presence was simply unapproachable.
And you you would never say anything as casual as my father, because it it presumes a closeness or an intimacy that's just simply unthinkable.
So Jesus at the age of 12, he what he's doing here is ushering in a cataclysmic shift about the way we think about God.
God is no longer or not simply the way some of us grew up thinking about God.
He's some far-off deity that I must try my best to appease.
He's not a hard, harsh dispenser of justice.
He's not an approachable and unknowable force.
Jesus, my Father, is now approachable.
He's personal and he's relational.
That's big.
That is good.
That is good news.
That's the gospel.
Jesus is personal and approachable.
His love is a never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, unending, always and forever love.
And that 12-year-old Jesus is basically saying, This is new.
And I'm thinking, because I really thought about this.
Why doesn't Mary then fuss at Jesus some more?
I mean, she'd already said, why did you make us walk all the way back for you?
And then he gives them this answer, I must be about my father's business, and she says nothing.
I think my opinion, the Bible doesn't say this, but it sure seems like she's just, she's completely blown away because he says, My father, which was to a Jew.
Think about this.
Mary knows that Jesus is the Messiah, but she doesn't understand what that's going to look like or how that's going to unfold.
But Jesus is basically announcing that his name is Emmanuel.
God with us.
So one of my favorite authors, Rankin Wilburne, says this even the best and most intimate human relationship has its limits.
No relationship can cure our loneliness, but the one who we were made for.
The one that is more central, more defining, and closer to you than any other relationship you could ever have.
Your relationship with Christ.
Jesus offers you what no other partner could, unwavering and eternal fidelity.
No sickness, not even death, will part you.
And this is what Jesus is beginning to tell, and what he's beginning to minister to the people there in Jerusalem.
So everything has changed.
No longer is my world a world where I struggle to measure up to expectations, my own or others.
Jesus has declared that Almighty God, who controls all, who has made all, as his father, and not only his father, but your father, my father.
For sure they didn't understand what he said to them.
They were astonished, they were speechless, maybe awestruck.
But pause for a minute.
Think about what this means to us.
It means very simply that God loves us, He adores us, and He wants to have a relationship with you, with me.
That is the only reason that Jesus Christ showed up.
This is the gospel.
Mary has just been told that all of her dreams have come true.
As have we.
Brendan Manning says it this way: God created us for union with himself.
This is the original purpose of our lives.
And God defined it as love.
Living in awareness of our belovedness is the axis around which the Christian life revolves.
Being the beloved is our identity, the core of our existence.
It is not merely a lofty thought, an inspiring idea, or one name among many.
It is the name by which God knows us and the way He relates to us.
So who is this boy who amazes the most learned teachers?
Who is this boy that caused the untouchable, all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the universe?
My Father.
And that in itself is scandalous, unthinkable, incomprehensible.
But this simple statement, my father, is not just life-changing.
This simple statement changes everything.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus.
Thank you that you have made a way for us to know you, to for us to relate to you, for us to find all of our answers to life in you.
I pray, Lord, that even as we think about Jesus as a 12 year old, that we'll think about our own lives and what we most need and recognize that in that what we most need is you.
Thank you, Jesus, that you have provided that to us in Christ's name.
Amen.