A Long Journey
I was thinking back to last Christmas where our attention naturally turned to the Nativity Story that we all know and surely love, but there is an aspect to it that is frequently overlooked. Something that Mary, Joseph and the Magi (‘wise men’) all share and that is the incredible journeys and sacrifices that were undertaken to see the Baby Jesus, “..the child who has been born King of the Jews…” (Matthew 2:2).
We know from Luke that because of a census the pregnant Mary and Joseph travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem- a journey of around 90 miles. Bearing in mind Mary was probably in the third trimester of her pregnancy it would have probably taken them around 7 days to walk through the Jordan River Valley, Jericho, past the Dead Sea and onto to Jerusalem and finally Bethlehem. It would have been a very challenging journey not just because of Mary’s condition but that it is quite literally uphill all the way and they would have journeyed through hill country. Where would they have rested, or ate, or slept? Being an unmarried mother then, they may have struggled with people giving them aid on the way, requiring them to ‘live rough’.
Around the same time another, even longer journey, was taking place. The Magi, traditionally thought to be three wise men namely Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar, were travelling from “..the East…”, and that may have been Babylon, now part of modern day Iraq. That was a journey of around 600-900 miles and conservatively probably took 5-6 months to complete- no easy journey then or now. We know from Matthew that by the time the Magi reached Bethlehem, Jesus was no longer a baby but a child living in a house where they bowed down to honour and praise Him with fine gifts.
That though was not the end of the travelling because the Magi had dreamed what would happen to them if they returned to see King Herod, so they left to return to their countries by other routes- so that was probably another 5/6 months on the road. It was another journey that Jesus, Mary and Joseph had to go on as they were warned that Herod would kill Jesus if he found him and told to flee to Egypt -a trip of 250 miles. When Herod died they then returned and settled in Nazareth- a trip of around 500 miles.
The amount of travelling and the discomfort people endured is really breathtaking – the Magi effectively traveling for around 12 months, Jesus, Mary and Joseph effectively commuting from Nazareth to Bethlehem, from there to Egypt and then back to Nazareth-quite astonishing!
However, the travelling had the greatest goal and reward of all- the safe protection, birth, parenting and honouring of the Son of God, the Messiah-our Saviour. I hope you all had a blissful Christmas one and all!
Tags: Jesuits, Binge on Jesus, Christmas, Luke, Nazareth, Bethlehem