Reflecting Upon the Nativity

Lani’s post, “Away in a Manger” got me thinking.  I love these questions and well researched thoughts.  Like Lani, I can see myself blurting out a comment about Mary being on her back.  I just would not be able to help myself.  Hebrew women commonly gave birth upright using bricks or stones as a birthing stool that would leave an opening for the baby come (see Exodus 1:16).

I am also curious about who was with her.  The scriptures just don’t go into that kind of detail.  It is likely that a midwife or other female family members were there.  But then I asked myself, would a midwife have been available with all of those people in Bethlehem?  It seems that with all of the extra people in the city there would likely have been great need for the services of the local midwives.  Would Mary have been a priority especially given the circumstances of her pregnancy?  Would Joseph’s family have welcomed them into their home or would they have turned them away knowing that the timing of their engagement, pregnancy, and marriage did not add up? They may have either thought this couple had either broken the law of chastity or that Joseph was a fool for taking a wife who was not virtuous. Or is it that Joseph’s family knew she would need privacy to give birth and the best place for that would be the first floor where the animals were housed at night?  All we are told is that “there was no room for them in the inn[s]” (Luke 2:7, see footnotes). Did they attempt to find other housing and were continually turned away after his family turned them away?

Had Mary and Joseph come to the realization that they truly were on their own with only God to help them?  I don’t know but I find great comfort and power in these words, “and she brought forth her firstborn son” (Luke 2:7).  She did it.  Mary’s body gave Him mortal life. She gave birth to Him. Was her birth unassisted? I don’t know but there is no doubt she would have received Divine Assistance.  I think that Heavenly Father and Mother would be the perfect “midwives.” I would not be surprised if Mary was left to herself for at least part of her birthing time.  Regardless, I like how Luke has given words to recognize what Mary had accomplished. She did not shrink from her calling.  She embraced it.

At the same time, I imagine that Joseph did observe the yoledet and yet could not leave her.  I think he was her guardian angel.  Allowing her space for privacy, protection, and safety.  Was she to be alone just as her Son would someday be alone in the Garden of Gethsemane with only an angel to witness the event?  How sacred that moment must have been.  I can see her cradling His warm, slippery body against her skin in complete awe of what she was witness to.  After pondering the miraculous nature of His birth I am comforted knowing it did not take place in a noisy crowded inn, surrounded by people who may not have understood the sacredness of that moment.

I don’t know the answers.   But these are thoughts that have come to my mind as I have pondered my own Christmas miracle birth. Throughout my pregnancy I battled my own fears about birth after my first baby was born by cesarean.  I was pregnant with my second child when five days before Christmas I found myself alone waiting for my husband to come home while my body began contracting with intensity.  I went upstairs to pack my hospital bag and take a shower.  I was filled with relief as my husband arrived home but it also became apparent that this baby was not going to wait for the hospital.  In the midst of hurrying to call family, a neighbor, and 911, my son’s body pushed its way out.  I may not have been surrounded by domesticated animals but I did feel very primal and divine at the same time.  I felt a direct connection to heaven and an immediate kinship with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.  What a gift I had been given.  This birth taught me so many lessons.

Whether alone or surrounded by women I see Mary as humble and so very powerful at the same time.  How grateful I am to her for submitting herself to God so willingly. I look forward to sitting at her feet to hear the story of Christ’s birth in her words.

Do you have any thoughts of Christ’s birth you would like to share?  Have you had a birth near Christmas?  How did that birth change or enhance the way you have thought of the Nativity or the Savior?