When I was about 15, I played the part of Joseph in our Christmas pageant. As with many pageant rehearsals, I spent some time talking to Mary who was about my age. One point she made was how close to her own age the real Mary was.
Even in the late 1960's, an unmarried 15 year old girl having a baby was a scary prospect. Being the daughter of a veterinarian, Mary wondered how anyone could survive giving birth in a stable. About six years later, a member of our youth group would die in childbirth at a sanitary hospital underscoring the concern.
I have often wondered how Mary was able to travel the 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem as Luke 2 tells us. Many years ago, I visited a fort at the top of a very high mountain in Haiti. I rode a horse the whole way up the mountain as my guide walked. A very pregnant Haitian girl was running up and down our caravan selling tourist wares. Years later, I realized Mary was in this same physical condition as this Haitian girl.
My wife wanted to have our twins while her sister was in town. Before going to the airport, we went to a big but generally quiet store. My wife chased our 22 month old son all around the store and sure enough, she had the twins the next day.
Joseph had a terrible dilemma when he arrived at Bethlehem. He did not have the internet to make hotel reservations before leaving Nazareth nor did he know all of the hotels were booked solid. As always, the Father provided a place for Mary to have her baby. Like most, I bought into the old hymn where the stable had a variety of critters. Being a Louisiana country boy, I will assure you even the hayloft is no place to have a baby.
A few years ago, I ran across a report where archeologists believed they had found a very special grotto on the north side of Bethlehem. This grotto apparently was the nursery for the unblemished sheep used for sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem. I cannot think of a better birthplace for the Lamb of God than this grotto. The life of this baby would end with the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.
Are you keeping Christ in Christmas?
Grace and peace in the power of the Holy Spirit.
(J. Wesley McComb is a published author and a member of Christ Episcopal Church, 1534 7th St, Slidell, 643-4531.)
© by The Slidell Independent newspaper; originally published on December 25, 2009. Used by permission of publisher and author.