Not Alone

When you read or see the Christmas story presented do you get a sense of Mary taking off to Elizabeth's house all on her own? Have you read about the roads in those days? Jesus wasn't making it up in Luke 10 when he says a man was attacked on the road.  While some roads were more dangerous than others, no one in their right mind traveled alone, including the Romans.

I have to ask . . . Do you think any righteous man would allow his teenage daughter to travel several days south to see a relative by herself? Not.

Do you think her promised husband would agree to it if by some far off chance her father did allow it? Not.

Mary had to have been accompanied by someone when she went to see Elizabeth.  She was not alone in her travels. Yes, she was alone in the weight of the circumstances she bore. But, she would not have been alone physically. Have you heard people say you can feel all alone in a crowd? I'm sure Mary felt this way often.

And, while we see Joseph taking Mary alone on a donkey to Bethlehem let's not forget that Mary's family was of the same lineage. So they too would have to travel to Bethlehem. The importance of the statement in Luke 2 is not that Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem, but that Mary traveled with Joseph as his wife rather than traveling with her family.

I know this is a foreign thought to many of you, but think about it. Yes, the weight of what was happening to them was squarely on their shoulders. And some supporters may not have completely understood. But God did not hang them out to dry. They did have support and prayers being lifted up for them in the challenges they faced. They were, in that sense, not alone.