Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.

See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which is as the Lord had commanded him.

Several months later, we learn in Luke's Gospel chapter 2 that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered.

So everyone went to be registered each to his own town.

Now Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth to Galilee, to Judea, the city of David,

which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family line of David.

To be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him

and was pregnant. Now, understand that this was no small journey. This journey would have taken

anywhere from four to seven days depending upon whether or not they had some kind of beast of

burden that would carry her part of the way or whether she had to walk it.

We don't know the answer to that question.

That remains a mystery to us, but it is possible they had some kind of donkey like you might see in some of the Hallmark Christmas cards and that she got to ride some and she got to walk some.

Nevertheless, would you just try to imagine those ankles?

And wouldn't you hope that she would be better company

than some of the rest of us might be, full term, on a five-day journey?

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Now, Luke is the most

generous of the inspired writers of the Gospels when it comes to details. And at times in both of

his books, the Gospel of Luke and Acts, those details are absolutely delicious. But here, of all places,

he goes straight from the time came for her to give birth to, then she gave birth. I propose to you

that only a man would have told it this way. And Luke, of all people,

he was a doctor for crying out loud. He couldn't have been all that squeamish. But then again,

...