Getting to Bethlehem

Luke 1:28 The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34 "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

A child was to be born! And not just any child. This child was special. He was the One.

I wonder what filled the heart of Mary as she pondered these things? Knowing that she carried the Son of God in her womb, knowing that from His very conception He was a miracle. The child she carried would be given the throne of David, and He would reign over God’s people forever. Can you imagine how this greeting from the angel, this pronouncement of God’s awesome intention changed everything she did?

She carried this miracle inside of her for months. She spoke with people about ordinary, common things, and all the while her heart must have been bursting to tell the secret, the most wonderful secret of all. I’m sure she overheard people talking about the Romans and she heard whispers of Jewish zealots who wanted to dispel Rome from Judea. She encountered people in despair, without hope. And all the while she carried the answer to their prayers. She felt it growing inside of her, day by day.

She did not think the same anymore. Tasks were no longer mundane. Even eating. It wasn’t just a meal, for now this common activity was filled with purpose. She nourished the Child, the Miracle. She did not think the same anymore. She couldn’t.

And with all of these things weighing on her heart, the decree of a census goes out. If not for the promise of God, this census might have seemed like an inconvenience coming at the worst time. Hey, Mary was human. Maybe it did seem like a terrible inconvenience.

Glory to God! A miracle is coming. Then the rest of the memo…Really? A road trip? All the way to Bethlehem, like this?

The trip to Bethlehem could have taken 4 days to a week to make, depending on how far they traveled each day. Oh, my. That’s not a very appealing journey, riding on the back of a donkey (my assumption) for days, very pregnant and I’m sure more than a bit uncomfortable. But take heart, Mary. This trip isn’t just an inconvenience. It isn’t just some painful thing to endure. It isn’t interfering with your miracle. It is, indeed, a part of it.

Jesus must be born in Bethlehem, and that’s not going to happen if Mary doesn’t get there first.

Has the Lord spoken a promise to you? Are you waiting for that wonderful fulfillment of what has been whispered to your heart? And did you get the rest of the memo, that there is a difficult journey ahead? Don’t despise that journey, friend. Don't dismiss it as a waste of precious time. God has a perfect time and a perfect place. What you perceive as an interference or an inconvenience or a terrible mistake, just might be our gracious Lord getting you there, getting you to "Bethlehem."