A Little Village, A Desperate Couple, A Shelter for Animal . . . and a Baby
“While they were in Bethlehem,
The time came for Mary to have her child.
She gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped Him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger
because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Luke 2:6
The young couple were newly-weds. But it had been a rough start. The bride was pregnant. Mary had been at risk of being publicly stoned to death. And Joseph would have been the obvious culprit. The unfolding Story could have cost Mary her life, and ended then and there.
But through God’s Divine Mercy and Love, God assured Joseph that the Child in Mary’s womb was of His Orchestration. The Angel-Messenger told Joseph that God was orchestrating the Events through which he and Mary were being led. God was unfolding a Plan that could change the eternal destinies of every person who would choose to follow His Plan – through all time. Mary and Joseph would be the first ones to hold, love, protect, and nurture the Son of God, now growing in Mary’s womb. The Child would grow into a Man Who would provide the Way to Eternal Life.
The Way would cost this Child everything.
Before the young couple and the Baby in Mary’s womb could settle into their new life together in Nazareth, the Roman Empire sent out a decree to the people of Israel. The Empire wanted a headcount of every person in Israel. Taxes were to be assessed and required of each. Every citizen had to go to the cities of their family’s heritage, be registered with the Empire, and taxes paid. Joseph’s family heritage was from Bethlehem.
This was certainly not a “honeymoon” trip for Joseph and Mary. It would have been a nightmare trip for the young couple. Mary was now carrying her unborn Son through hot, rugged terraine with only the supplies they could carry. Hormonal changes, physical changes, and emotional impact of pregnancy is challenging in a “normal” situation. But the stressful realities the young couple had to walk through must have caused questions and challenges at a far higher level than what they could have imagined. Fellow travelers would be physically spent and emotionally frustrated as their occupied nation was forced to even more merciless demands than had already been imposed under the brutal Roman occupation. All of Israel shared the same cruel treatment by the Roman military in their small nation. The journey could easily be a trip that many would not survive. Rugged, hot, hilly terraine, and limited water would complicate their journey from Nazareth. . . most probably on foot. Then, at their destination, they would have to hand their hard-earned money to greedy, often cruel hands of their merciless, God-less oppressors.
For the young family, especially Mary being far along in her first pregnancy, the journey would have held risks, problems, and stress beyond imagining. The trip was likely by foot, through rugged terrain for a distance of about 90 miles. The precious Baby in Mary’s womb would have added even more concern and sense of responsibility for the two first-time parents.
Joseph was likely required to pay his taxes in Bethlehem, the city of his family’s heritage. However, the small town was teeming with travelers from all over Israel who were now flooding the city because of the Roman mandate. Their hoped-for “inn” with no vacancies was likely in Jerusalem. Bethlehem is within sight of Jerusalem’s walls, about 5 miles from the Temple. But the small village would not be large enough to accommodate such a human overflow of visitors to Jerusalem.
Whatever the logistical situation, Bethlehem was nearest to Jerusalem. The humble village was where David had been born, and where he had watched over the sheep of his father. From the hills of Bethlehem, Jerusalem is clearly visible. The lambs needed for Temple sacrifices were primarily raised in the rolling fields between the little town and the Temple in Jerusalem that glistened within sight. Lambs raised for Temple sacrifices grazed those hills, with their shepherds keeping watch over them. The Gate in Jerusalem’s wall used for the sacrifice lambs to be brought to the Temple was within a few miles’ walk of the humble village. The hills between the village and the City were pleasant pastures for the flocks of the shepherds of Bethlehem.
Bethlehem’s small-town setting offered Joseph and Mary a possible “Plan B” urgent alternative to Jerusalem’s crush of frustrated, oppressed, (literally taxed visitors that had flooded the city.)
Plan “B” was now in process. . .
Arriving in Bethlehem did not relieve the young couple’s desparate situation. Mary and Joseph now faced a new reality of NO place to stay. No water to wash the dust of the hot, rugged trip. Likely, no clean water to even quench their thirst. Any shelter for travelers was no longer available. Every available room in both Jerusalem and nearby Bethlehem was full of equally weary, frustrated, hungry and thirsty travelers who had been forced to make the journey.
And now, Mary was clearly in labor. The Baby was coming. In desperation, Joseph found space in a stable . . . inhabited by the animals. There was no other option.
. . . and the Baby was born.
A young man helped his new wife as she gave birth to the Baby that God had intentionally placed into their lives . . . into their arms . . . into their hearts. God had given His Own Son into their keeping. Father to father. Son, now in human form, was held within a young woman’s arms. The Divine entrusting the Divine into human arms. . . . human hearts. . . for the sake of the World.
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