SALVATION’S COMING SET IN MOTION

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

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 2:1-5

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It’s Christmas Eve and many people are on the roadways, traveling to spend the Christmas holiday with family and friends. Some will journey a short distance, some far, but I think I can safely say that no one will have the kind of trip that Joseph and Mary had to get to their destination more than 2,000 years ago.

You’ll recall that Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth and because of the census ordered by Caesar Augustus, an order that required people to return to their own town, Joseph needed to travel to Bethlehem, also known as the town of David, because he “belonged to the house and line of David”. The scriptures tell us that he didn’t travel alone for he took his pledged wife-to-be Mary along even though she was “expecting a child”.

All that sounds easy, right? Just go to Bethlehem and register.

There was only one problem. Bethlehem was about seventy miles from Nazareth as the crow flies but it’s believed that Joseph and Mary took the easiest path possible to get from point-to-point because of her being late in the pregnancy, a path that would have seen them walk nearly 90 miles.

Think about that for a moment.

When was the last time, if ever, that you tried to walk 90 miles? Not drive 90 miles. Walk it.

We can’t allow ourselves to lose sight of the magnitude of the journey the soon-to-be parents of Jesus made to get to the place where the prophets foretold the Messiah being born. Consider these words or the prophet Micah:

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Micah 5:2

Caesar Augustus may have given an order that set salvation’s coming in motion but let us never forget that it was all a part of God’s overall plan to bring His Son into the world, a fulfillment of the words His Old Testament messengers shared with the Israelites.  

Back to the journey for a moment because it wasn’t an easy trip for Joseph and Mary. They didn’t load up a car and drive to Bethlehem. They set out on foot and the best estimates are that the couple traveled around 10 miles a day, all that Mary could have handled given her being in the final month of pregnancy. This would have made the trip around nine days, nine days that would have taken them over all kinds of terrain, nine days that would have seen them trying to keep warm by huddling close in the cold of night, nine days where they could have faced all sorts of hazards like wild attacking animals or enterprising bandits, waiting to steal from anyone they could take advantage of.

That Joseph and Mary made it to Bethlehem unscathed and without incident was a miracle enough in its own right but God would not allow anything to interfere with His divine desire to bring His Son into the world to save mankind.

As we prepare to once again revel and rejoice in the birth story of Jesus, let’s give thanks to God for how He blessed Joseph and Mary through an arduous but successful trip to set the stage for Jesus’ birth in the little town of Bethlehem.

Tomorrow, we’ll celebrate the day when salvation was born.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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