A store has just opened in New York City that offered free husbands. When women go to choose a husband, they have to follow the instructions at the entrance:
“You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are 6 floors to choose from. You may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but you CANNOT go back down except to exit the building!
So, a woman goes to the store to find a husband. On the 1st floor the sign on the door reads: These men Have Jobs
The 2nd floor sign reads: These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.
The 3rd floor sign reads: These men Have Jobs, Love Kids and are extremely Good Looking.
“Wow,” she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going. She goes to the 4th floor and sign reads:
These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and Help With Housework.
“Oh, mercy me!” she exclaims. “I can hardly stand it!” Still, she goes to the 5th floor and sign reads:
These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, help with Housework and Have a Strong Romantic Streak.
She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the 6th floor and the Sign reads:
Floor 6 - There are no men on this floor. This floor exists as proof that you are impossible to please. There is no such thing as perfect.Thank you for shopping with us.
Actually the morale of the story is: HOPE. Hope is what made the woman to climb on…. to want to find something better each time. You see that woman believes that:
Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, achieves the impossible.
Today we read from the book of Ezra. This priest wrote about the hope of the Jews and its fulfilment. Around 600 BCE, the Jews were defeated by the Babylonians. These victors destroyed the temple of Solomon and brought the Jews to Babylon as captives for around 50 years. Until fortunately the Babylonians were conquered by the Persians. But these new conquerors released them only after around 30 years and allowed them to go back to Jerusalem and finally rebuild their temple. The book of Ezra was about hope… for around 80 years the Jews cried, prayed, longed and hoped to be able to go back and worship their God in their temple. And God did not forget them. And as Ezra and the people embark on that journey back home, he says: "This day of our return is holy to the Lord; do not mourn or weep.Go now on your way for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, achieves the impossible.
in the gospel story: Jesus has seen the misery and the suffering and the despair of his people. So he begins his ministry of healing and teaching to assuage their fears and their sorrows and their ignorance and of giving hope to those in despair. But today we see him coming back to his hometown in Nazareth and he stands before the people in the synagogue proclaiming his message of hope:
“The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and mercy.”
Jesus has come to bring hope. Yet we know that many will be annoyed by this message and will start the plan of bringing Jesus down to squash the hopes of those who still have its flicker.
But we shall see also in the succeeding episodes of his life that for those who put their hope in Jesus, they will see the invisible, they will feel the intangible, they will achieve what is impossible.
In the border of Cambodia and Thailand, there are many streetchildren who beg the tourists who pass the border for food or money. One day one Jesuit priest saw a little girl of around 5 who had crooked legs begging seated on a mat together with her mother. The priest had pity on the girl. He however was hopeful that if treated this girl could have a different future. And so the priest talked with the mother and offered to have the girl be brought in a hospital and have her legs operated and straightened so that she could walk. When the girl heard this her eyes shimmered with the hope - the possibility of being able to walk again. Until her dreams were squashed when the mother refused her treatment. The mother replied: “If she could walk then she would not be able to beg and would not be able anymore to earn this good amount of money we get everyday.”
How does one hope when every time we do, those dreams, those hopes are squashed by people around us? Simple. When the world says: "Give up!," hope whispers: "Try it one more time."
Let us remember that: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Today we affirm that Jesus is our hope and at the end we too will see what is invisible, we will feel what is intangible, and we will achieve what is impossible.