The Nativity Journeys

The Christmas story as told in the Scriptures is a story of journeys.  Of course, the most obvious one is the one Mary and Joseph took as they traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  We have seen that journey enacted a thousand times in nativity scene events.  There is also the journey of the shepherds from the fields to the village where Jesus was born.  It was a short journey compared to the one traveled by the men from the east who followed the star.  The mostly forgotten journeys are the ones which took the new family to Egypt as refugees and then later back home when the threatening Herod was dead.   

There was one other journey which defies depiction.  It is in some ways the shortest and, yet, the longest.  It is the one set forth in John's gospel with the words, "And the Word became flesh and lived among us..."  (John 1:14)  The Apostle Paul elaborated on those few words when he wrote his letter to the Philippians.  "...though He was in the form of God, (He) did not count equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness..."(Philippians 2:6-7)     

It could be said that Jesus came from heaven to earth, from the invisible realm into the visible one as quick as conception.  For nine months He remained invisible in the womb before being pushed out into the hay of a stable in Bethlehem.  As surely as is the journey of any baby from the invisible to the visible is a great wonder, so it was for Him as well.  But, mostly it was up to his parents to experience the awe and wonder at the birth of a son who had been promised to them and to the world.  To them somewhere in the midst of their journey a Savior was born in their lives.  It is the same for us on our journey.