Have you ever wondered why, that if “all the world should be taxed” (Luke 2:1), and that “there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7) once they got to Bethlehem, why is it that every picture, every drawing, every depiction of Joseph and Mary that we see, shows them traveling alone? Why is that?
Did Joseph know some back road to Bethlehem to avoid the traffic? Did he evade the crowds by traveling when everyone else was stopped? And where was the rest of his family? If he was “of the house and linage of David” (Luke 2:4), where were his parents, and his brothers? Well, maybe he didn’t have brothers, but where were his cousins? And what of Mary’s family? She too, was “of the house of David” through David’s son Nathan (Luke 3:31). Where were all her kith and kin?
The fact is they were surrounded by people! It was like rush hour on a Friday afternoon. Everyone had to get to their “home town” to be registered and counted for the census. So, where were Joseph’s and Mary’s parents?
What we (Bible readers) have to realize, is that this wasn’t the first census to ever be taken! No, “counting people” was a way of life in this culture… well… in any culture! How else would the government know how many people lived where? And of course there had to be a way to calculate taxes!
So what about Mary and Joseph’s parents? Most likely they were “registered” the last time there was a census, and now that Joseph was his own “head of household” he, along with his wife, Mary, had to go to Bethlehem themselves. I know (being a mother) that their parents surely worried, and wished they could go with them, but in that day no one traveled “just because they wanted to…” And so, Mary and Joseph set out alone…
No, they were not “alone” in terms of the sheer numbers of peoples traveling along the same road, but they were “alone”, nonetheless…
Have you ever felt all alone in the midst of a crowd of people? Surely that’s how Mary and Joseph felt. It had been nine months since they’d had a Word from God, at least an “audible” word… But, in a few hours that would change.
The God who said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b and Joshua 1:5), will truly “never leave you nor forsake you” either! Think about it, and count on it!
Thanks for writing about something that’s easy to forget about this story, and something that’s easy for all of us to experience during this season, too. It’s so easy to think that Joseph and Mary were totally on their own, but so true that they were definitely part of a crowd. I hope we all remember we’re not alone during this season, whether there’s no one else around or we’re surrounded by people.
A good reminder that many of the people we see in the crowds at Wal Mart, the mall, etc. are desperately alone in this season. Prayers for them at this moment.
Another aspect to this event is that other people (even Mary’s relatives) no doubt thought of her as a fornicator because she got pregnant before she was actually married to Joseph. It’s true that they were already considered married but only in the sense of being promised to each other. Nobody would believe her if she told them what really happened. Even Joseph didn’t, until God told him about it in a dream. So they were probably social outcasts their entire married lives, not quite ‘respectable.’