Thoughts for the Day

Luke 2:1-5 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.

The Christmas narratives in Matthew and Luke leave out much of the timeline and connecting details.  Who arrived when, how many, where and for how long did they stay, when exactly was the birth, where was Jesus circumcised, when did they flee and for how long?  Etc! In our culture, we are used to getting more information, corroborating details, and can feel frustrated without it.  But let’s focus on what this snapshot tells us rather than on the gaps.  We don’t know how long before Jesus’s birth Mary and Joseph set off from Nazareth for Bethlehem, but we know they did and not by choice.  The journey must have taken days and must have been very uncomfortable for Mary.  Then there’s the uncertainty over accommodation, which didn’t work out too well.  And they must have calculated that Jesus was likely to be born while they were there.  Even if God had explained why to them beforehand (and there is no suggestion He did), they had to live through what was actually happening.  How did it feel to them?  Unexpected difficulties one on top of another, things not always working out as planned or hoped, somehow managing, but afterwards being able to look back and see God’s provision and something of His unfolding plan.  If this pattern sounds at all familiar, it’s comforting to know we are not alone – neither in the sense of being the only ones to have gone through trying circumstances nor in the sense of God being absent during them.