Luke 2:4 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.

From the standpoint of the world, Joseph and Mary were very small cogs in society. The government spoke, and they had to act. The whole idea of democracy, of being ruled by elected representatives, hadn’t even occurred to the vast majority of people. And of course, technology, and particularly communications, were what we today think of as very primitive. There was no exemption for Joseph because of distance or family circumstances. He had to go register, because he was the householder. It seems doubtful that Mary was legally required to go, but social circumstances meant that Joseph couldn’t see leaving her behind. Her “unplanned” pregnancy made her something of a social pariah, I would imagine, so she wouldn’t have had the support structure for the delivery, and might even have risked stoning in Joseph’s absence. Those are very difficult circumstances! I would imagine Mary’s love for Joseph was cemented in that time, as she saw what he went through to care for her. Theirs was doubtless an arranged marriage, or at least engagement, since such were very much the rule back then, but love will indeed grow, even in such circumstances, when there is a foundation of commitment – and Joseph certainly demonstrated that he was committed to Mary! So many things about the Christmas story speak of the love and grace and provision of God as we consider them from this perspective, but in the middle of it, Joseph and Mary probably felt pretty overwhelmed! We think of the miraculous divinity of it all, but we need also to think about the very real, nitty gritty humanity of it. God becoming a human baby was both divine and fully human, and we must not forget it.

Of course, I’ve been familiar with the Christmas story for as long as I can remember. My family did a tree, stockings, and gifts, but we were never big on Santa. On Christmas morning, after stockings and then breakfast, my father would read the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke, and then pray for all our relatives. That was always the longest prayer of the year! That said, as a child I of course had little grasp of the difficulties encountered by Joseph and Mary, (though I had seen puppies being born). As an adult, I need to have more appreciation for the commitment, dedication, and simple endurance of all the people involved in the story. I have nothing to complain about, but I still manage to complain at times. Rather than being burned out at the same things year after year, I need to be deeply grateful, not only for God’s plan but for everyone who participated in it, because only then will the true joy of it all be manifested.

Father, thank You for the way You continue to grow me. Thank You for how You are teaching Cathy and me to let go of things and just rest, relax, and rejoice in You, just as You have told us to. May the activities of the next few days indeed bless us and those we interact with, as You intend, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!