The next thing we read about is Mary and Joseph entering into the city of Bethlehem.
Remember they are tired, needing rest, a warm bath and food.
The census is going on and there are a lot of people there and much chaos.
Many places to stay were full already, and I would imagine Joseph had a sense of urgency, as he searched for a resting place for Mary.
In Luke chapter one verse six it says:
[While they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.]
We are not told a lot about how that took place or whether she had help.
Joseph wouldn’t be too much help as she labored in the delivery process.
There could have been a midwife there close by or even an older ‘lady’ who could help.
One could imagine the isolation and sadness Mary would feel delivering her baby alone.
Anyone who has ever had a baby knows how hard it is, and how much pain it involves.
Even though He was a chosen child, and she was chosen to have him, that doesn’t mean she would have no labor pains or a hard extreme delivery.
Remember she was young and this was her first baby.
There was no doctor as far as we know, and only Joseph to help.
We are not really sure where they were when she delivered, some say it could have been a barn like the ones we
see in the nativities showing Mary laying on straw and or sitting with the baby in a manger.
We don’t know. Some opinions say it could have been in a cave on the side of a hill behind the inn.
What we do know, is a baby was born and He would change the world forever. In verse seven:
[She gave birth to her fist child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger,
because there was no lodging available to them.]
I have often wondered if she had seen this before and knew what to do, and I also wondered where the strips of cloth would come from.
Did Joseph take part of his ‘robe’ and tear it with his hands making strips for the baby?
Were they that prepared when they traveled the road to Bethlehem for her delivery?
They had to make wrappings of blankets, and maybe even using some of what was on the donkey for ‘warmth’.
Many things within this story we are not told.
She did not have a pretty little bassinet with soft cuddly onesies for him.
She had strips of cloth, torn and ragged, to wrap her baby in as she swaddled her tiny little boy.
The world was watching and waiting, for a Messiah and soon they would be able to meet him.
In verse twelve it says:
[You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.]
A baby was born. Mary’s baby…just as the angel had told her.
[Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!]