In Luke chapter two we find Mary and Joseph needing to leave together.
[verse one: At the time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendent of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home.
He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.
He took with him, Mary his fiancée, who is now obviously pregnant.]
So we now understand why Joseph and Mary traveled together, when we would say it wasn’t a safe time for her to travel. It was mandated that he had to go, no matter what the reason.
I cannot imagine Mary at a later stage of pregnancy, traveling on a donkey 120 kilometers or the distance of eighty miles.
They were walking or riding. Struggling and agonizing every step towards the city.
We are not told if she went with a good spirit or if there was a bit of grumbling.
I know I would be grumbling a lot.
Did she have him rub her sore feet at night as they rested between walks?
Did she have a comfortable blanket or pillow to sleep with, while waiting for the next morning?
I cannot imagine being obviously pregnant and trying to sleep on the ground.
It could not have been easy for her, it could have taken them a few weeks to go a ‘steady pace.’
One can only imagine the long and hard road, and Mary’s discomfort and perhaps even a lack of patience.
Anyone would understand how hard and how difficult that had to have been.
The smell of donkey hair and dirt and dust had to have been all over them.
I wonder if they had enough water or food as they journeyed along this path.
It was a hard and exhausting journey for both of them, and as they walked together
did they talk much about what it would be like to see and have this little baby?
So much happening in such a short time.
I would imagine because of the census, there were many others doing the same kind of journey.
Only this journey Joseph and Mary walked, would be like no other one in history.
Soon a baby would be born, and life as they knew it would change forever.