What a mother...

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.