Dec 21st

Reading Luke chapter 2.   Hardly need to read it really because it is that passage which is so well known that most of us could recite it in our sleep

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out.........and she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling bands......now there were in the same country shepherds.......

I find it hard to read this chapter and not just skim over it with eyes glazed.   Familiarity breeds contempt  etc.  We know what is coming next.  We have heard it before so many times... so today I am going to do my best to read with fresh eyes and see what new thoughts might come.

Decree to all the world.  ALL?  Even if this means all the Roman world we are still talking a humungous enormous gigiantic operation.   Estimates say that when Jesus was born the Roman empire probably encompassed around 50 million people.  ( 20% of the world's population) and of those around half lived in the countryside outside major cities.

So when Joseph and Mary upped sticks to go to be registered there were 25 million people on the move.  What an astonishing and amazing upheaval.   Obviously they werent all on the roads at the same time in the same countries going to the same places.........but nevertheless it must have been somewhat chaotic.
Nazareth to Bethlehem is 80 miles.    On a donkey.  With a very very pregnant Mary.   That is a long way.
Its London to Peterborough.  Which, if you walked it non stop you could do in 28 hours ( according to Google maps)   With a pregnant wife on a donkey it must have taken four or five days.  Maybe longer.

Ive been pregnant.  I found it hard to sit in the car for half an hour at the end of my pregnancies, let alone sit on a donkey on dirt tracks,  in bandit country, with no bed and breakfast booked for the night.  Nightmare.
And the thing is that Mary could probably have stayed at home.  I cant imagine that she actually needed to go at all.  Joseph was the one who needed to register.

But if he had gone - albeit he would have made faster progress and been back within the week - he would have missed the birth.   They must have known she was due any day.  Maybe she was ten days overdue like I was and the size of a house and having constant backache and twinges and braxton hicks contractions.   What discussions must have gone on beforehand ?  Did Mary plead to go with him because she didnt want to be apart from Joseph.   Or did she plead to be left at home and he persuaded her to make the journey??   What did they say to God?   If it had been me I would have been moaning long and loud about the timing of this census and why couldn't the baby have arrived a week earlier etc etc etc     And how terrified must they have been of the repercussions from Rome that they didnt just decide to show up late for the census or chance missing it altogether.

Luke doesnt say much about the arrival at Bethlehem and the no room at the inn thing.  But we know that Jesus was born in a stable - which was likely to have actually been the spare room of someones house which    was housed in a sort of gallery arrangement over the place where the livestock was kept.   This would have been the warmest room in the house. Not terribly fragrant possibly.... :-)    And it might have had food troughs built into the floor or walls which would have made an idea bed for the baby.

You cant take much with you on a donkey.  No Pampers.  No suitcase full of baby gros.  just a change of clothes for the adults probably.  There is not likely to have been a midwife in attendance - although with Bethlehem being packed out there were probably experienced women about who would have lent a hand.
No sisters or mother there to offer moral support.  Just Mary in a strange place with her not yet husband going through the most terrifying process known to womankind.  No drugs.  No epidural.  No doctors on hand if things went wrong.    She will have been exhausted from the travelling which probably brought the labour on.  Who knows how long she had to labour for.   First babies can take two days of pain and  pushing and grunting to get out.   Poor Mary.

I wonder if Jesus made it onto the census.  I wonder if Joseph went to put his name down before or after the baby was born.

Theres much more to think about in these well trodden Bible paths if we just take a moment to try to imagine ourselves there.

Lord, this Christmas help me to pause for a while to really really think about what happened all those years ago.   About the hardship and sacrifice endured by Mary and Joseph as they brought you into this world.  Of the truly difficult and humble beginning you had.  Let us not glaze over as we hear the stories and sing the carols again.   But impress us with new understanding, show us new truth.  Speak in new ways. So that this Christmas we can say we have seen more of You.   Amen