There is a new Musical/Drama called Journey to Bethlehem just released a month ago that presents “a young woman carrying an unimaginable responsibility. A young man torn between love and honor. A jealous king who will stop a nothing to keep his crown.”
However, the journey to Bethlehem is more than that as Mary’s story is really about a feminine hero that deals with all of the obstacles that makes the travel transformative and the outcome universal. The 90-mile trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem by a woman about to give birth was not even the beginning of the ordeal.
Mary’s experience is similar to the adventure of the hero that comes into play when a people are in despair and need renewal. It is in moments like these that, out of the community rises a hero that is called to go find the secrets and solutions that resolve the great tribulation and bring them back as a transformational boon.
Along the way, the hero finds many obstacles that need to be overcome as well as helpers when faced with impossible odds. In this case, freedom from Roman control in a physical and spiritual sense is the goal sought.
The first obstacle is actually the call by God to have a child out of wedlock, something that goes against the culture. Second is the great challenge of having Joseph accept Mary as his wife given her condition.
Throughout this part of the ordeal, angels sent by the Father, are busy helping by convincing and confirming the miracle of God’s child coming into the world. It is also the fulfillment of the Prophet Micah’s 722 BCE prophesy about the birth of the Messiah in Bethlehem.
The couple leave Nazareth and travel along the Valley of the River Jordan to Jericho where Mary, Joseph and the unborn Jesus symbolical repeat the entry into the Promise Land as the original ancestors had done under Joshua in the Old Testament. That entry marks the beginning of a timeless magical moment that includes their later flight to Egypt because of King Herod’s threat to kill all first-born and in the process eliminate the Messiah who he thought would be his rival for the throne.
Before reaching Bethlehem where they were mandated to be for census and tax purposes, Mary and Joseph stop in Jerusalem some 7 miles away. Jerusalem is the center of the Jewish universe and the visit to the city symbolically introduced Jesus, carried by Mary, as the fulfillment of God’s promise to the “Chosen.”
In Bethlehem, Mary is ready for childbirth and there is nowhere to have the baby. In desperation the couple accept a stable for the birth.
Again the angels come to Mary’s aid and convert the humble abode into a place of worship by the community and eventually by distinguished visitors that, in addition to bringing expensive gifts, also bring a message about the threat of death to the newborn.
After the child’s birth and the trip to Egypt which again retraces the steps of Moses, Jewish slavery, exodus to freedom and the Promise Land, Mary carries back the boon to her home in the person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus also becomes a hero in his own right by bringing the message of love and salvation to a conquered world.
Mary’s delivery of God’s gift changed the world forever. Her boon also included a representation of the Holy Spirit that has remained with us after the death, resurrection and departure of her son.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of laVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to news@lavozcolorado.com.
