A mother receives her baby for the first time and whispers to him: “I want you to be my baby forever, but I am excited about all the amazing things you’ll do in this life." Now you come, tomorrow you go. This sums up what Jesus told his disciples: “COME... I want you to be my disciples forever, but GO, I am excited about all the amazing things you’ll do in this life.” That is the meaning of the feast we celebrate today - The Ascension of our Lord.
Come… the first word of Jesus to his disciples. Come, follow me. Lord where do you live? What do you do? Who are you? Come and see. Come learn from me. Come stay with we. Come, I want you to be my disciples forever.
Go… the last word of Jesus to his followers just before he ascended into heaven. Go, be my witnesses. Go make disciples of all nations. Go and baptize. Go and preach the good news. And I will be with you until the end. Go, I am excited about the amazing things you’ll do in this life.
Come... the first word of a mother to her baby… Go… her last word to her grown child. Remember how you teach a child to walk. You let him/ her stand up holding something stable, then you move away a few feet, and tell him/her: Come to Mama. Then when the child grows older and can walk by himself, you tell him/her:
There is this inspiring story I read: “My name is Mildred Honor and I am a former elementary school music teacher from Iowa . I have always supplemented my income by teaching piano lessons – something I have done for over 30 years. I found that children have many levels of musical ability. I have taught some very talented students. However, I have also had my share of ‘musically challenged’ pupils – one such pupil being Robby…
Robby was 11 years old when his mother (a single mom) dropped him off for his first piano lesson. Robby said that it had always been his mother’s dream to hear him play the piano, so I took him as a student. But from the beginning I thought it was a hopeless endeavor. As much as Robby tried, he lacked the sense of tone and basic rhythm needed to excel. But everyday, he dutifully reviewed his scales and some simple piano pieces that I require all my students to learn and he kept saying: “I just want my mom to hear me play the piano.”
Over the months he tried and tried while I listened and cringed and tried to encourage him. At the end of each lesson he would always say ‘Someday, my mom’s going to hear me play the piano’. But to me, it seemed hopeless; he just did not seem to have a musical talent. I only knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby off or waited in her old car to pick him up. She always waved and smiled, but never dropped in.
Then one day Robby stopped coming for his lessons. I thought about calling him, but assumed that because of his lack of ability he had decided to pursue something else. Several months later I mailed a flyer recital to the student’s homes. To my surprise, Robby (who had received a flyer) asked me if he could be in the recital. I told him that the recital was for current pupils and that because he had dropped out, he really did not qualify. He told me that his mother had been sick and unable to take him to his piano lessons, but that he had been practicing at a friend’s house. ‘Please Miss Honor, I’ve just got to play for my mom.’
The night of the recital came and the high school gymnasium was packed with parents, relatives and friends. I put Robby last in the program, just before I was to come up and thank all the students and play a finishing piece. I thought that any damage he might do would come at the end of the program and I could always salvage his poor performance through my ‘curtain closer’.
Well, the recital went off without a hitch, the students had been practicing and it showed. Then Robby came up on the stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair so disheveled. ‘Why wasn’t he dressed up like the other students?’ I thought. ‘Why didn’t his mother at least comb his hair for this special night?’
Robby pulled out the piano bench, and I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen to play Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 in C Major. I was not prepared for what I heard next. His fingers were light on the keys; they even danced nimbly on the ivories. He went from pianissimo to fortissimo, from allegro to virtuoso; his suspended chords that Mozart demands were magnificent!
Never had I heard Mozart played so well by anyone his age.
After six and a half minutes he ended in a grand crescendo, everyone was on their feet in wild applause! Overcome and in tears, I ran up onstage and put my arms around Robby in joy. ‘I have never heard you play like that Robby, how did you do it?
Through the microphone Robby explained: ‘Well, Miss Honor … Remember I told you that my mom was sick? Well, she actually had cancer and passed away this morning. And oh, she was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she had ever heard me play from up there, and I wanted to make it special.’
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house that evening. As the people from Social Services led Robby from the stage to be placed in to foster care, I noticed that even their eyes were red and puffy. I thought to myself then how much richer my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil. He was the teacher and I was the pupil, for he had taught me the meaning of perseverance, and that anything is possible if you love your mother.
Unfortunately Robby was killed years later in the senseless bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April, 1995. I believe he is now together with his dear mother in that place where they play the heavenly music of the angels.”
God’s motherly love reminds us today: “I want you to be my baby forever, but I am excited about all the amazing things you’ll do in this life." Happy Ascension Day. Happy Mother’s Day.
Reference:
Emery, D. (2001) The Piano Teacher.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa062501a.htm