I
heard this story on the radio today in lieu of Mother’s Day I am presuming (as
a heads up, it totally made me start crying).
It is about a Korean man and his mother, written from the perspective of
the man:
“My mom only
had one eye. I hated her… She was such an embarrassment. She cooked for
students and teachers to support the family.
There
was this one day during elementary school where my mom came to say hello to me.
I was so embarrassed.
How
could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out.
The next day at school one of my classmates said, ‘EEEE, your mom only has one
eye!’
I
wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mom to just disappear. I confronted her
that day and said, ‘ If you’re only gonna make me a laughing stock, why don’t
you just die?’
My mom
did not respond… I didn’t even stop to think for a second about what I had
said, because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings.
I
wanted out of that house, and have nothing to do with her. So I studied real
hard, got a chance to go abroad to study.
Then, I
got married. I bought a house of my own. I had kids of my own. I was happy with
my life, my kids and the comforts. Then one day, my Mother came to visit me.
She hadn’t seen me in years and she didn’t even meet her grandchildren.
When
she stood by the door, my children laughed at her, and I yelled at her for
coming over uninvited. I screamed at her, ‘How dare you come to my house and
scare my children!’ GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!’
And to
this, my mother quietly answered, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I may have gotten the
wrong address,’ and she disappeared out of sight.
One
day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. So I lied to my wife
that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went to the old shack
just out of curiosity.
My
neighbors said that she died. I did not shed a single tear. They handed me a
letter that she had wanted me to have.
‘My
dearest son,
I think
of you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house and scared your
children.
I was
so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I may not be able to
even get out of bed to see you. I’m sorry that I was a constant embarrassment
to you when you were growing up.
You
see… when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As
a mother, I couldn’t stand watching you having to grow up with one eye. So I
gave you mine.
I was
so proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with
that eye.
With
all my love to you,
Your
mother.’
It
absolutely breaks my heart how awfully the son treated his mother because of
her “deformity” which was really her sacrifice so that he would be able to have
a normal life. She loved him so much
that she gave up her life that he could have a normal one. He didn’t know that until it was too late
because he never even gave her the chance of a relationship.
I
realized how much Jesus is like that mother who allowed himself to be
physically marred and killed for our sake that we would be able to live a
“normal” life with God. A life close to
the father, free from our sin because of his sacrifice. It breaks my heart knowing how many people
are alive today who would slam the door on Jesus’ face, just like the son did,
because they don’t understand nor even bother trying to understand. All they see is the ugliness and want nothing
to do with it, little realizing that they are staring at their own ugliness
taken on by Christ that they would be clean.
If they truly understood what they were looking at they would be so
incredibly humbled.
And
even more humbling is the mother’s attitude and beautiful picture of love. First she gave up her own eye that her son
could have a normal life. Not only was
she ridiculed by the town members, but also by the very son she made this
sacrifice for. Never once does she wield
that sacrifice over her son because she did it out of love and not for a
reward. Her act of love was not done
based on how the recipient would respond, but based on her love for him. I cannot imagine how terrible that pain would
feel- that rejection, loneliness, and abandon.
But she took it on so that he wouldn’t have that burden. That is absolutely beautiful and an amazing
picture of Christ’s love for us.
