Mary's Story: Part Four – Church of the Ascension

Arriving in Bethlehem

by Rhonda Waters

There once was a young woman named Mary. We don’t know much about her except that she was engaged to marry a man named Joseph and she lived in a town called Nazareth. Then, one day, something extraordinary happened to Mary. Do you remember what happened? (Read Part One)

After she was pregnant, Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was also having a baby. Do you remember what happened? (Read Part Two)

When the baby was almost ready to be born, Mary and Joseph got some news. Do you remember what they had to do? (Read Part Three)

Well, after that long, long walk – probably at least a whole week long – Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem. This is the story of what happened next

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Innkeeper:
What a zoo that week was. People just kept pouring into town – people we hadn’t seen for years, decades! Bethlehem is a place where people are from – it’s David’s city, after all. So when the Romans sent everyone to their hometowns – well, they came to Bethlehem.

It was bananas. Everyone had brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins, second-cousins, third cousins stuffed into every corner of their homes. And still, the people came. Overflowing family homes, filling up friends’ homes, and spilling into the inns and pubs.

It was actually kind of fun.

Mary:
I wouldn’t call it fun. Joseph’s family had left Bethlehem generations ago so we had no family to claim a bed from. Joseph kept dragging me to this house and that house – old friends of friends of friends of distant cousins. They’d take one look at me, smile politely, and send us on our way. I wasn’t going to have the baby by the side of the road but I was beginning to be afraid that he would be born on some stranger’s front step.

Choir: Do not, do not, do not be afraid. Do not, do not, do not be afraid.

Joseph:
Things probably weren’t really that bad. We were just tired. And Mary kept insisting that the baby was on its way. Her back hurt in a new way, apparently? If it hadn’t been for that, we’d have been fine just squeezing into someone’s back room with the whole crowd. But Mary needed more space. And no one wanted to have front row seats at a stranger’s birthing bed. So we kept looking.

Mary:
I thought this baby was something special – a holy child, the Son of God, heir to David’s throne. He’s coming tonight. I’m sure of it. Special or not, when it’s time for a baby to come, they come. I just need somewhere warm, dry, and reasonably private. I don’t care about anything else.

We knocked on another door.

Innkeeper:
Oh my. Oh, you poor dear. I’m so sorry. We are just so full – you would never find the floor space for what it looks like you need to do tonight. Oh my.

Mary:
Do you have a covered stable?

Innkeeper
A what?

Mary:
A stable. With a roof. I don’t even care if it has four walls. All I need is a roof and some clean straw and some water. And a little quiet.

Joseph:
This is why I’m sticking with Mary. The innkeeper led us around to the stable. We lay fresh straw on the ground and a few blankets. The innkeeper’s wife and mother came out to help. Mary’s face was white. This was it. The baby was coming tonight – Jesus. Jesus was coming tonight. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Mary:
Joseph looked so worried. But I wasn’t afraid. Jesus was coming tonight, just like the angel had promised me so many months ago. I thought of Elizabeth and her beautiful baby boy, John. I remembered my song. Jesus was coming. The world was about to turn. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Choir: Do not, do not, do not be afraid. Do not, do not, do not be afraid.