LISTENING TO THE MASTER

Joshua Bell is perhaps the world’s finest violinist.  His parents knew he was something special when he was only four years old and he stretched rubber bands to his dresser drawers and played classical tunes on them, adjusting their pitch by pulling the drawers in and out.

As an experiment in 2012, he played -- unannounced -- in a metro station in Washington DC.  The people who conducted this experiment were warned by experts that a crowd would certainly gather; they might need extra security.  Surely many people would flock to this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Joshua Bell brought his 1713 Stradivarius violin -- which cost millions of dollars -- and began to play the six most beautiful songs in his repertoire.  The world’s greatest violinist playing the world’s greatest music on the world’s greatest instrument.

But no one stopped.  A thousand people walked by.  You can see it on video.  Children would tug on their parents’ sleeves, but the adults were too preoccupied.  One woman alone recognized him and stopped to listen.  She gave him a bigger tip (twenty dollars) than the other thousand people put together.  They were in a hurry, hurrying past Joshua Bell because they had other things to do.

Jesus said, “To what can I compare this generation?... We played the flute for you, and you did not dance.” (Matthew 11:16-17)

The Master is still playing, but listening is optional.  Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. 

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want To Be: Becoming the Best Version of You” 

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