Awkward Family Christmas: Journey to Bethlehem

With Christmas just around the corner, many of us will be hitting the road, casserole and gifts in tow. Some of us will likely travel a great distance, while others mere miles to be with family or friends. Most of us holiday road-warriors give little thought to the journey that took place over 2000 years ago that inspired all the Christmas journeys to come. Mary and Joseph are forced to return to his ancestral home for a census. The distance between Nazareth to Bethlehem is 90 miles and would have been grueling. To say that Mary being nine months pregnant and traveling by pack animal was awkward, is perhaps the understatement of the century. For Mary, the journey would have been severely inconvenient, undeniably uncomfortable, and even downright painful. The brevity of the narrative, from departure-to arrival-to birth, seems to suggest Mary goes into labor upon entering Bethlehem, if not before. And when they arrive, our road warriors encounter huge crowds, reluctant innkeepers, animal feed troughs, and livestock onlookers. But these events and even rather extra-common encounters become extraordinary and even God incited experiences that remind us that God is with us and working out God’s purposes in our life and in the world.