Luke 2
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
On a personal level, for Joseph and Mary, this census couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time. We understand from a reading of Luke 2 that she was near to the time of her delivery.
Scholars estimate that Joseph and Mary would have needed about a week to make this 80-mile journey. Although the average person travels at about 4 miles an hour, with Mary in her pregnant condition, the journey would probably have taken longer out of concern that she might miscarry. The idea of Mary traveling on a donkey is nowhere found in Scripture, but it is not unlikely.
Having just completed the process of making the sixty mile journey (by car) from Camarillo to Monterey Park, I can attest to the fact that moving isn't easy. In fact, it can be very stressful.
But we are reminded at Christmas, that the distances traveled to provide the world with a Savior aren't simply measured in miles. God's provision of salvation is measured in grace and humility.
Grace is evident in Romans 5:8 which tells us that "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." God didn't wait for things to look better. He intervened when our spiritual condition was at its worst.
Humility is shown in Philippians 2:6-8 by the example of Jesus who spanned the gap. Jesus "who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!"
JEMS South America also works to carry the good news of Christ to our neighbors in Brazil, Paraguay and (soon to) Argentina. It is a journey that overcomes physical miles, culture, language and, in some cases, spiritual resistance. But we carry the message with the example of Jesus himself. We go in grace and humility.
As we make our own holiday journeys this Christmas, take a moment to reflect upon the journey that made restoration with God possible. A journey which spanned eternity.
Merry Christmas to you all!
Pastor John
