Luke 2: 4-5
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. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. They just kept walking.
It was an eighty mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, assuming they took a straight route. We don't know if they only had one donkey, or if both got the luxury of one, or if neither had a donkey. It's hard to imagine a woman nine months into her pregnancy walking eighty miles but then no one knew differently then. Historians believe it would have been, for the average person, a four day journey. But take into account Mary's pregnancy there's no telling how long it actually took. Nor do I think it matters, except to get a better understanding of that kind of hardship: walking eighty miles while nine months pregnant.
I wonder what the conversation was like. Had they gotten used to the idea of parenting the Son of God? Had they thought of how it would happen? Did Mary think God would spare her the pain of childbirth? Did they talk about how foolish Joseph had been when Mary was visited by the angel?
They kept walking. Tired after exhausted step, they kept walking.
They saw the city in the distance, and they both let how a sigh of relief. They were almost there. They didn't know where they would sleep when they got there. They prayed God would provide for them.
They just kept walking.
Hey God,
When I get tired from this journey, as I sometimes do, let me remember that I am Your
hands and Your feet and that it is Your Spirit that keeps me moving. Let me keep walking.
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