“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.” Luke 2:4&5 NIV
This journey took between 4 and 7 days. According to maps from Mary’s era, there were some towns along the way to possibly find places to stay in but there were also long sections of the travel paths that were simple open and not settled. On those sections of the road, there were not many places to stay, so at night they had to either find shelter under a tree, in a cave or sleep out under the stars.
There are not many women who are 9 months pregnant who sleep well in the beds we have in our time, so can you imagine sleeping on the ground and then having to get back up the next morning, to begin walking again. Mary was carrying the Messiah, the Savior of the world, but she did not have it easy.
When the angel came to Mary, she gave up certain things about her future that she may have had planned such as the wedding to Joseph, the friends who would celebrate with her, the house they were going to have. Joseph gave up the plans of being the biological father of ALL of his children but took Jesus as his own and raised Him as if he was Jesus’s biological father. I wonder how much of this they both thought about and maybe even talked about on this long journey.
When we talk about this part of the account of Jesus’s birth, we should also remember that they were not the only ones going to the town their ancestors were from, everyone was, as the decree when out to the entire Roman world. This means that the roads would have been crowded with travelers going in all directions. Other people from Nazareth would have been making the same trip and some of them knew that the baby Mary was carrying was not Joseph’s. It is fair to believe that there were comments and looks from them as they passed Mary and Joseph on the journey.
There were also no restaurants to stop at when it was lunch time or supper time. All of that had to be packed in the items they brought along. For Mary, that meant having to figure out how to cook the meal and not take up so much time that the journey took longer. Traveling in our time takes some planning, but traveling in Mary and Joseph’s time took not only planning but preparation and organization to be successful and eat meals while traveling.
Christmas is 2 days away, have you thought about how much you are willing to give up to follow God’s will and plan for your life? As we think about everything that Mary and Joseph did to follow God’s plan for their lives and fill prophesy, may today would be a good day to take some time to think about what you are willing to do for God.