Mary was frantically brushing her long, dark hair.
She had missed her menses two times, she was with child, and in a town like Nazareth, if she was unwed and had a child she would be stoned to death.
A silvery angel had come to her last night and told her she would give birth to the messiah, but telling that to an enraged mob of Jews would only make them laugh as they threw the stones at her.
She needed a husband before she was showing her condition.
Mary was poor and had no dowry. She knew she was pretty so she opened her heart to the old carpenter named Joseph who had been calling on her.
She gushed and smiled at him as he visited, and soon they were married.
Mary sighed with relief. She told Joseph how an angel had told her the messiah was inside her. He was wise at 64 years and smiled at the angel dream.
One day they were sitting on the wooden bench in front of her house. Suddenly two men walked up to the town square. One, a Roman soldier, in a silver helmet in full battle outfit. With him was a Jewish man, his interpreter.
When a crowd had formed, the Roman soldier read from a papyrus scroll announcing, by order of Emperor Augustus, all Jews had to return to the place of their birth to register. They must leave in one week.
Mary’s heart sunk. Both she and Joseph were born in Bethlehem, 90 miles away, a rough journey through dangerous country filled with beasts and bandits.
But they had to go. A week later, at 3 months pregnant, Mary sat on their colt as Joseph walked beside her heading to Bethlehem.
They climbed steep hills, wolves and lions roared nearby, and rain pelted down on them. The journey was long and rough.
After a week of travel they saw the white houses and crenulated walls of the temple of Bethlehem. They made it! But they had little money. God only knew how they would survive with a baby on the way. God did know, of course.
On the first day they stood in the long line of dusty travelers and registered at their birth city. That day they knocked on the door of an inn and since they had no money for a room, the Innkeeper let them live in the stable house behind the inn and work off their keep, taking care of the horses and milking the cows.
They worked for 6 months and one cold December night while Mary was in the stable, she felt harsh pains and held her stomach.
“Joseph!” she screamed, “The baby is being born!”
He ran in and placed her on a pile of straw, covering her with his coat.
Her cries brought the shepherds from the hills, their sheep trailing behind. They arrived at the door of the stable. Her screams emptied out the inn and travelers stood by the stable door gazing at the woman in childbirth.
Suddenly the pain stopped, and hidden by Joseph’s coat, a shining baby boy emerged from Mary, and like there was nothing in the world but peace and pure joy, the infant smiled up at them, and they felt perfect.
There was no cord joining him to Mary. The boy baby was calm and beaming. She brushed away the wetness with Joseph’s coat and held him to her. She turned and showed him to the stunned people around her. The infant smiled.
The stable glowed, all felt a warm peace surrounding them and holding them like they were being born for the very first time.
One young shepherd turned away to gather his flock. He looked up into the star-filled night and saw one star shining brighter than all the rest, filling the world with light.
Dennis Gregory writes a bi-monthly column for West Hawaii Today and welcomes your comments at makewavess@yahoo.com.
