Last year at Christmas I had an apartment in the Westchester County town of Katonah. My next door neighbors had a manger scene in their front yard. It was a modern interpretation, with Mary and Joseph behind the feed trough in which the baby Jesus was lying. There was also a snowman, some reindeer, and striped candy canes mixed in with the shepherds who were there with their sheep. All the pieces were lightweight plastic. The taller ones tended to fall over when there was wind, so that often in the morning a member of the family had to stand them up and return them to their proper positions only to return toward evening and find them fallen over again. The process was repeated almost every day.
Thinking about that, I remembered the words of Simeon to Mary in the second chapter of Luke's Gospel, words spoken about forty days after Jesus' birth. Simeon said, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed...." I was struck by the sequence "falling and rising" which is different from the more usual "rising and falling." The reversal should not surprise us, because reversal is central to the Biblical witness.
Not only did Jesus say (more than once), "The first shall be last." But also the creation story in Genesis tells us, "There was evening and there was morning, the first day." Not morning and evening, as we tend to think of a day, but evening and morning. Light following darkness rather than darkness after light!
Like the plastic figures on my neighbors' lawn last year, we human beings often get knocked over by the winds that blow through our lives. The Good News coming to us in the life that began on Christmas assures us of our rising from our falls, not so much because of our own strength, which may be considerable, but ultimately because of the everlasting arms that are underneath us, sustaining all reality.
As you celebrate the birth of Jesus, may you know the deep peace that comes from knowing God will raise you and those you love from all fallings. Light will follow darkness. Sorrow will yield to joy. Death will lead to life. Thanks be to God for the Gift of Christmas.