Help Along the Way
How long was the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem? Scholars differ in their opinions as to distance and route. It might have been a more familiar route such as that heading to Passover or a longer route to not get caught up in the conflict between the Samaritans and the Jews. Since we have no Garmin data or Strava segment to review, we’ll have to go with what we know (or think we know) about the time period. One account says 157 km (hang tight – I’ll get all this into miles in a minute) another says 175 km. That’s 97.5 and 108.75 miles. I’m a geek, and I like the numbers, but I’m also reasonable…let’s split the difference > 166 km. 103 miles. I am not a runner or avid hiker, so I can’t claim to have gone a whole lot of miles in a single day on foot -- perhaps 15. I have ridden a bicycle 100 miles in a single day, but that is WAY different than the donkey in our story. My walking pace, when I am moving with purpose, is about 3.5 miles per hour. A leisurely pace would be maybe 2 mph. If Mary and Joseph were just out to get heart-healthy and made the trek, it would have taken almost four days…traveling eight hours a day. If they moved at the aforementioned ‘leisurely’ pace – closer to seven days. I have to believe that there was NOTHING leisurely about THIS journey.
I love the introduction of new words and adjustments to the rules in our language. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air gave us “jiggy.” “Muggles” came from Harry Potter, and the hair on fire pace of technology turned the noun Google into a verb. Perhaps my very favorite is the morphing of friends and family: the notion of FRAMILY.
Did Mary and Joseph encounter Framily along the way? What we read tells us that Joseph was a carpenter; not a farmer or a hunter, or a nomad or a traveler; a man with no skills to help with this road trip. We know for a fact that Mary was VERY pregnant. We have two sons, and at no time could I imagine saying to Kim, especially in the 8th or 9th month – “Hey! Let’s go walk to Ripley. It will only take a week or so.” If we fast-forward to Bethlehem, we know that it was the friends part of framily that found them the stable. Family surely would have taken them in.They must have encountered kind souls as the moved closer to their destination. Someone to offer shelter, food, fresh cloths, water and hay for the donkey. All of the necessary things could not have been carried.
Luke 3: 10 says: “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.”
All that we need for our journey cannot be carried.
Who in your world is in need of framily? Perhaps you have a coat that will keep someone warm, a sandwich that will stop a hurting stomach, a few dollars that will buy a bus ticket, or a ride in your car to a destination you don’t understand but will make a life-changing difference to another.
A candle loses nothing by lighting another. Be someone’s light this Christmas.
Steve Matthews
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