Then came the news of the census. The Roman Emperor wanted to make sure he was getting the right amount of tax money out of his subjects, so he sent out an order that everyone in the Empire must register. To do this Joseph had to travel to the town from which his family originated. Since he traced his ancestry back to King David, he had to travel to Bethlehem, a distance of more than seventy miles. At first, he was not going to take Mary with him. He felt that such a long trip would be too hard on her in her condition. She was nearing the end of the ninth month of her pregnancy so the baby could be born at any time. What if she should go into labor on the road? And the roads were dangerous. There could be robbers. But Mary had insisted on going with him. She reminded him of the well-known prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. She was confident that God would see that they got there safety. So, against his better judgement and after a tearful goodbye to her parents, they set off together on the long journey to Bethlehem.
His train of thought was broken by the clatter of horses on the road behind them. It was a Roman patrol returning to the garrison after a day’s mission. He barely had time to get his donkey with its precious cargo off the road before the riders thundered past. He stood there choking on the dust raised by the horses’ feet as he watched them disappear around a bend in the road. Like almost everyone in Israel, he hated the Romans and what they had done to his homeland. He thought of the widely circulated idea that when the Messiah came, he would set everything straight and drive the Romans from the land. But then he turned to make sure that Mary was all right and possibly for the first time the thought struck home. The Messiah was coming!
It was completely dark by the time they reached the outskirts of the town. Only the twinkling of the stars in the cold sky lit their way as they moved through the dark streets. Since Bethlehem was a small town, it had only one inn and it was not hard to find. As they neared it Joseph began to see more people, travelers like him, who had come for the census. They were huddled around small fires in the street, their belongings piled under makeshift lean-tos. Upon seeing all the people Joseph began to wonder if they would be able to find a room in the inn with the comforts to which they had been looking forward all day.
As he tied his animal to a post in front of the inn, he could hear noise of the people inside and the smell of food coming to him on the cool night air reminded him that they had not eaten anything but a few dried dates since early that afternoon. He looked at Mary perched on top of their belongings. She was dozing but he could tell from the expression on her face that she was in considerable discomfort. What a woman his young bride was! She had never once complained on the whole long journey from Nazareth. She always has a word of encouragement, laughing, joking, and there was always a smile on her face when she thought he was watching her. But when she wasn’t aware of him watching, he had seen the pain and exhaustion in her face, and he knew how much she was really suffering.
She was startled by the touch of his hand on hers but smiled that sweet smile of hers. “Are we here already,” she joked? That cheered him up a little and he smiled back.
His knock on the door was gruffly met by a man with a harassed expression on his face, obviously the innkeeper. “I need lodgings for myself and my wife,” he told the man.
“I have no more room,” was the reply. “Don’t you know that the city is full of people who have come to enroll for the census?”
“Yes,” Joseph replied, “but we have come long way, and we need some place to stay.”
Unity Lodge No. 146 