Their mission was to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem -- as the crow flies, a distance of about 80 miles. Unlike crows, trails are not able to travel in straight lines. They curve around mountains and hills, they make detours to avoid lakes and to link towns and villages together. When stretched out, the trail would travel a hundred miles or more.
Before setting out on this new adventure, they would have packed their donkey with the supplies required -- bedrolls, some oil, flour for flatbread, dried fish and lentils and perhaps some light wine to purify the water that they would drink.
Four miles an hour would be a brisk walking pace. Given Mary's advanced pregnancy, that would have been unlikely. Joseph would carry some of the supplies on his back but even if Mary rode the donkey part of the way, the donkey (being a donkey) would not have tolerated much more than five or six hours of work a day. At least, not without being driven on by a good caning. Given who we are talking about, this too seems unlikely.
There are no records of their journey other than that they did make it. The math tells us that they must have spent six or seven days on the trail. To be sure, this trip must have been a challenge for this pregnant woman. All the evidence tells us that Mary would have embraced the challenge with joy and excitement. After all, she was pregnant with the long-awaited Messiah and she knew it.
Mary and Joseph had been schooled in the scriptures of their day. They were familiar with the positive teachings of Isaiah 6 (Holy, Holy, Holy the Lord Almighty, the earth is filled with his glory). Mary's uncle Zechariah was a high priest at the temple. She would have heard him recite the 23 Psalm.
He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures and leadeth me by still
waters...
The gospel of Luke tells us that Mary herself
sang the following words:
My soul glorifies the Lord
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior
All of these teachings and others, suggest that Mary would have been a marvelous, upbeat young lady.
On the trail, nights were spent under the stars, while a warm breeze off the Mediterranean rustled the leaves and the sounds of the donkey munching grass and the bleat of a far-off sheep lulled them to sleep. They would spend their days walking and talking, perhaps singing as they took in the sounds, sights and smells of the trail.
On day five or six, they may have found themselves becoming weary and could have reminded each other of another scripture from Isaiah -- the one about renewing their strength, about mounting up with wings as eagles, being able to run and not become weary and walk and not faint.
Whatever route was taken, what is recorded is that, at the end of the trail, Mary's time to deliver arrived. God chose to have his only begotten Son born in a stable, a place more fit for a little donkey than for the Prince of Peace. This was a place where the sounds of Creation were all around the newborn. It was a place where shepherds would feel welcomed. An Angel appeared and told them: "A Savior is born to you; He is Christ." The Angel gave them direction and the shepherds followed trails and pathways that led them to the Lord.
Kings, coming from much further, on horses and camels, followed a trail lit by a star. Later, Joseph would once again pack up the little donkey and return to the trail. On the return trip, there would be four of them -- the donkey, Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus. This would be the first of many trails that the Savior would travel. The first Christmas Trail.
Merry Christmas to all.
Glory to God and on earth
Peace, goodwill towards men.
