Travel to Bethlehem

Mary and Joseph traveled far
This new law was quite a bother –
Caesor Augustus said all must go
To the towns of their great grandfathers.
Joseph descended from David the King,
So to Bethlehem they must hurry.
Mary and Joseph traveled far,
With little rest for weary Mary.

Read this account for yourself in Luke 2:1-5

Some versions say that Caesar Augustus had levied a tax and the people had to go to the country of their ancestors to pay it, but most recent translations say that the decree was for a census of the people. Either way, God’s hand was in it so that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem as it had been prophesied by Isaiah many years earlier.

This was no small trip for Mary and Joseph as Bethlehem and Nazareth are about 80 miles apart over rugged terrain. The Bible doesn’t tell us whether they traveled alone or with a group. It also doesn’t say if they had a donkey, though it may well be a reasonable assumption. Joseph and Mary would not have been the only ones who had to travel to a distant city for this census, so the roads were surely busy with people going in many directions.

With Mary’s pregnancy and the ruggedness of the terrain, they may have been able to cover only 10 miles per day, though on good days they might have covered 20 miles a day. They would have had to carry all of their belongings and probably slept in the open.

When I think of how hard it must have been for Mary and Joseph to make this trip, it makes me think of the scripture (Philippians 2:14) to do everything without grumbling and complaining. The next time I feel inconvenienced by my circumstances I will do well to think of Mary and Joseph as they made this difficult trip.

This devotional message corresponds to the seventh mini-story in The First Christmas by Janice D. Green. The First Christmas is available here.