The Child

It was getting late as Zacharias sat in front of his oil lamp. He set an extra log in the fireplace, stoking up the fire one last time before going to join Elizabeth and baby John who were already asleep in the loft. Before retiring he had a feeling, a desire to take out the scroll of the prophet Micah, searching for words of encouragement there. The hair on Zacharias neck and arms began to stand straight up as the words from the text in Micah 5:2 made his heart skip a beat “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times.” He knew that his niece Mary was carrying the Messiah, the Christ and Immanuel inside her womb and by now would already be on the road headed south to Bethlehem to register for the worldwide census.

As Joseph was passing through Scythopolis, the clickity-clack sound coming from the wagon’s rear wheel bearing was getting louder and he knew he had to find a place to stop for the night. Mary was in much discomfort as the baby was continuing to be very active. She tried rubbing her belly, talking to the baby but nothing helped. Her time to delivery was getting very close and each bump in the road hastened the birth of her child. Joseph stacked up some flat stones and squeezed them under the axle of the wagon raising it up off the ground just enough to get the wheel off. Stowed in the back of the buckboard he found the clay pot that held the bee’s wax and packed the wooden wheel bearing with wax. Mary went down to the edge of the Jordan River, knelt down and washed her hands and face with the cool water from the river. She praised God for this beautiful river, Joseph, and the baby God had given to her to carry.

The baby immediately calmed down and ceased kicking Mary as she sang the words from psalm 2:6,7 while watching the water pass slowly through a calmer section of the river “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, You are My Son, today I have begotten You.”  She knew their journey was bringing on her labor and that she could not hold back the inevitable for very long, as the baby was well on His way.

The road was getting very crowded with travelers from all over Judea as the donkey plodded into the city limits of Jerusalem. There were many travelers going to the city and all of its surrounding suburbs to register for the census. Many street vendors had set up shops wherever there was a turn-out in the road where they sold skins of wine, water, bread, woven cloth and trinkets of every kind. Mary couldn’t help but notice a beautiful red home spun blanket as the donkey waited for cross traffic to clear out. Joseph asked the merchant the price and after a bit of bargaining, Mary wrapped the lovely blanket around her shoulders.

The temple was shimmering in the late afternoon sunlight as the priests busied themselves finishing up with the daily sacrifices. The golden clad cedar doors of the temple were blinding when you looked at them directly during the right hour of the day. The white limestone blocks of the complex looked pristine in the orange glow of the afternoon light. Once out of the congestion of the city, Joseph prayed that Bethlehem would be much quieter. Just outside of town the road cleared out a little for the last five miles. Joseph didn’t think Mary could endure the extra mileage to Zacharias and Aunt Elizabeth’s house in the Judean hills so he remembered an inexpensive but comfortable inn where they could spend the night, and made his way there.

“Now there were in the same country shepherds, living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for I bring you tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men!’”

Meanwhile, back in Bethlehem, Joseph had pleaded with the inn keeper for a room where his wife could deliver. The inn keeper wished he had a place for them but there was no vacancy due to the festival and census traffic. But being a decent man, the inn keeper allowed Joseph and Mary to stay with his animals in a hollowed out limestone cave adjacent to the inn. Joseph thanked him while Mary laid down on a pile of fresh straw the inn keeper had just put down for them. The animals kept some distance from Mary, standing directly in the opening of the hollow.  They shielded the birth from the cold Judean night and any stray travelers.

As the baby was born, Joseph tied off and cut the umbilical cord. Mary, while exhausted, wrapped the baby in the new blanket Joseph had purchased from the street vendor and laid him in the animal’s feeding trough. A very bright light was born that night in Bethlehem, the new born King of Israel and the Savior of the entire world!