The ninth day of Christmas

Luke 2: In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.
This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
All went to their towns to be registered.
Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee in Judea, 
to the city of David called Bethlehem.
He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged 
and who was expecting a child.
While they were there, the time came time for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her first born son, and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, 
because there was no place for them in the inn.
(or no lodging available to them because of the many people)
We move from Mary’s response from what Elizabeth had said
about her baby and the position she now finds herself in,
as the mother of Jesus.
To the knowledge that Mary is young and she is quickly moving into a life altering moment that would change her forever.
The journey back from Elizabeth’s had to have been more difficult as
she was getting further along in her pregnancy.
She wanted to return to her family and to Joseph and to rest.
Upon arrival from that journey, Joseph tells her,
“we must leave again.”
I imagine that was not the best news she could have heard.
I also imagine her exhaustion and many questions for him.
The last thing she would have wanted to do, was travel again this late in her pregnancy.
One of the verses said ‘she was obviously pregnant’, which I interpret as very large, with a birth coming very soon.
She had to leave her place of familiarity to a new and different place away from family.
The eighth person in the Christmas story is the Emperor Augustus.
By calling a census he was forcing Joseph, to go back to the city of David to the town called Bethlehem, in order for prophecy to be fulfilled, nothing is by accident or coincidental.
Jesus had to be born in a lowly setting in Bethlehem, where he could be placed in a manger as the story continues to play out.
For the word said, “you will find the baby lying in a manger.”
All this had to take place according to what was told, and Joseph
was following the decrees of the land, not fully realizing it was
‘God ordained’. Remember nothing is by accident.
Like characters in a play each one had some purpose and some reason to be in the Christmas story.
On the ninth day of Christmas we are introduced to Emperor Augustus who God used in order to get the baby where he needed to be, for his birth to take place in the city called Bethlehem.