This reading from the bottom up, of reversing the way we read what is happening, is very much at the heart of the season of Advent.
There is a most interesting poem by Brian Bilston on climate change in the December edition of Tui Motu entitled “Every Day The Planet Burns a Little More”. On first reading it seems to create a bleak picture of what is happening and what we can do about it. At the end there is a note to say, “now read this poem from bottom to top”. The words and sentences are the same but in this sequence the message is totally transformed to one that is hopeful and encouraging.
It reminded me that reading things from the bottom up is very biblical. The Scriptures generally tell stories about the people at the bottom, the kind of stories that are not often told or remembered in secular history. As Conrad Hyers in his book And God Created Laughter says, “biblical heroes are often ordinary, if not insignificant and unlikely, people who are used as common vessels for the work of God They more closely resemble clay pots than golden goblets”. There are many examples in the scriptures but perhaps the classic one is the shepherd boy David with his sling defeating the giant warrior Goliath.
In the ministry of Jesus his upside-down view of the world also leads to various reversals. He speaks of the last being first and the first last, of the humble being exalted and the proud being humbled. He says tax collectors and sinners are entering the kingdom ahead of those considered righteous. The Beatitudes have a similar focus with the poor, those who mourn, the meek and the humble regarded as blessed. The Magnificat reflects a similar reversal where God casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly, where the hungry are fed and the rich go away empty. St Paul writing to the community at Corinth says that “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (Cor: 1:27).
This reading from the bottom up, of reversing the way we read what is happening, is very much at the heart of the season of Advent. The readings, especially from the prophets Isaiah, speak about turning swords into ploughshares in the face of war about banquets of food and fine wine in the face of famine about God wiping away the tear from every cheek in the face of grief about justice coming for those without power in the face of rampant injustice about a light that will come into the world and overcome darkness.
This reversal has the effect of strengthening tired hands, steadying trembling knees and giving courage to faint hearts. This is the hope and promise of the season.
The invitation to read from the bottom up continues to be important in our world. Things looks very different from the point of view of the vulnerable, the hungry, the grieving, those treated unjustly. The biblical call is to look at the world from their point of view and work towards reversing what is happening to them.
Columban Fr Patrick O'Shea resides at St Columban's Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
