Advent Journey: December 23rd

© Michael Livesay-Wright

Questions and Reflections

QUESTION: Do you think Mary felt shame?

It would have been easy to feel that way. To society at the time, it was one of the worst things a girl could do - to get pregnant before being married. If her relatives knew it could have meant banishment from the family, if not worst. We don't know what these early months were like for Mary. We don't know if her family knew or if they just assumed (when Mary and Joseph got married) that the baby was his. We don't even know if Mary told people or kept it to herself. I'm sure few would have believed her. But we do know (as we explored yesterday), that instead of shame, Mary felt great joy and humble exultation in what God was doing within her. The words of her very own song are written out for us in Luke 1, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name" (Luke 1:46-49, ESV). That sounds like the opposite of shame to me.

QUESTION: What was a census and why was this important?

A census was a tool the government used to keep track of how many people were in the kingdom. The Romans were in charge of a very large kingdom (remember at this point in history, the Israelites don't really have their own kingdom, they have long been ruled over by others), and it was important to keep tabs on the number of people under their rule in order to tax them and recruit able-bodied men for the military. For whatever reason, whether by Jewish custom or Roman requirement, all peoples were required to go back to their town of origin. Family, heritage, and origin (as well as place) were very important to the Israelites. But even more importantly, God was telling a significant narrative (more of that in the next questions). I also find it interesting how many journeys or pilgrimages are in the Bible. Abraham packs up his belongings with no idea where he's going when God says "Go to the land I will show you." Joseph is taken by a slave caravan from his home to the land of Egypt. The Israelites journey through the wilderness for 40 years to reach the promised land (they took a VERY indirect route). And here, Joseph and Mary embark on a journey of 90 miles that likely would have taken as long as 7-10 days. It wouldn't not have bene easy with all of the symptoms of pregnancy, the normal dangers of travel, mountainous terrain, and cold weather. But there is a reason for this journey.

QUESTION: Why Bethlehem?

The short answer is God had promised that the Savior would come from Bethlehem: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2, ESV). Yes, God can orchestrate a census of en entire empire just to move the baby Jesus to the right place to be born. But also, Bethlehem has plenty of Biblical history surrounding it. Most importantly, Bethlehem is where King David was from. Since the greatest king was to come from the line of Jesse (David's father), it only made sense that He would be born in Jesse's (and David's) hometown. I also love that Micah calls it "too little." Isn't that just perfect? Just as Mary is too young and Elizabeth too old and all of them are seemingly too insignificant and broken and unglamorous to be a part of the most important story of all time, so too the town itself where the greatest birth of all time would take place was "too little." it's just like God to use the weak and the small and the seemingly insignificant to achieve His purposes. Also remember that He always, always, ALWAYS keeps His promises. GOD IS COMING!