Mary and Joseph are on a journey. The must go to Bethlehem to pay their taxes, and be counted. Because the decree went out from Caesar Augustus that taxes were to be paid and they were to be paid in the town of your husband’s birth.
All I can think is that paying taxes is hard enough, but now the ruler changes the rules and says that you need to return to your hometown to do this. I am not talking about jumping in your car and driving from the suburbs into the heart of the city. We are talking about a ride on a donkey and about 5 days of travel to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem. I have no desire to sit on a horse for 5 days let alone a donkey and then add into the equation that Mary is 8.75 months pregnant. Think about how uncomfortable that must have been for her. Yep, they made some stops along the way to visit with family and friends but that is still such a long journey.
Mary and Joesph were making this journey because Caesar Augustus was worried about the expanding population of the country and that there wouldn’t be enough food to take care of the people in the country. So the only thing that he could come up with was for people to return to the town of their birth and be counted and taxed.
Wow! What a thought. Can you even think of anything like that happening today? Can you imagine what that would look like? The chaos that there had to have been? But like so many other things we have seen over these past 4 weeks was Mary and Joseph’s faithfulness. Their commitment to each other, their commitment to their faith, their commitment to the unknowns.
Love is amazing thing. Love takes on so many shapes and sizes and colors. Love is core to who we are as human beings. Love is glorious and heartbreaking all at the same time. I think of the amount of tears that I have cried over the years because of love.
It’s so hard! Because to be open to love, you have to be open to the pain that comes with it. You cannot have love and not have pain sometimes too. But it’s worth it right? I think so, I mean because of love I have a pretty amazing family and friends, because of love I have amazing memories of times gone bye. When you love, you have the ability to share a part of yourself with others.
How does this tie into Christmas? Christmas is the ultimate gift of love and sacrifice. Mary carried a child, she risked being exiled from her family and community and why? Because of love.
So, my friends as you are running around this week looking for that perfect gift. Remember you have already given your family and friends the best gift of all. You have loved them.
My challenge to you this week is to stop the craziness of the week and getting ready for a perfect Christmas. Remind people that you love them. Remind them that they are important to you and of course tell them that you love them.
Until next time,
Juli
Juli's Blog 