When I was twelve years old I was getting D’s and F’s in school, and starting to experiment with cigarettes, alcohol, and seeing how many days I could go without brushing my teeth. I wore Chuck Taylor high-top black sneakers and broke them in by asking my Dad to run over them with his car multiple times. I bought a new pair of Levi’s jeans and immediately took scissors to the knee areas, cutting big holes in them. This was the era of Seattle grunge rock in 1993 and I was determined to be a miscreant.
I certainly wasn’t sitting in a Church, talking to theologians about the things of God at age twelve!
But here was Jesus, sitting among the teachers, hungry for the things of God, asking good questions, and giving answers that astounded people. Later, it would the teachers who question Jesus (e.g., 6:2; 10:25; 20:2, 22, 33). Right now, it was an inquisitive little Messianic adolescent boy blowing their minds.
