In this reimagining of the birth story of Jesus, we strip away the sentimental and recreate the loud, messy, complicated world into which Jesus was born.

TRANSCRIPT

EPISODE 1

Through the open front door, Joseph stole a glance at Mary’s growing belly.  It had been seven months since Mary had told him she was pregnant.  Seven months since that angel interrupted his sleep to tell him, order him, really, to marry Mary.  The angel had said that the child in her womb, the boy child, was from the Holy Spirit.  He would never forget that night.  At least he knew the kid would be a boy.  That was pretty cool, and really convenient.  “Everyone should get to find out a baby’s sex before it comes,” Joseph thought.  Then he remembered that terrifying visit from the angel.  “Maybe not, if that’s how they find out,” Joseph shuddered.

“Are you all packed?” Joseph heard Mary shout from outside, rousing him from his reverie.   

“Almost done,” he replied.  “You’re going to double check everything anyway,” Joseph muttered under his breath.  Mary wasn’t a nag, and Joseph knew his attitude was a little unfair, but he was just so stressed about this trip.  It was 100 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and it wasn’t exactly the safest road, especially that bit from Jericho to the outskirts of Jerusalem.  Add to that a seven months pregnant wife and Joseph’s heart felt like it was in a vice.

Mary, on the other hand, couldn’t be more excited.  Joseph wasn’t super-familiar with pregnancy, but he thought women this far along should tire a little faster than normal.  Shouldn’t Mary be a bit more…delicate?  She had spent the first few months of her pregnancy with her cousin, Elizabeth, who had also become miraculously pregnant even though she was near 60.  What was with the women in this family?

Ever since Mary came back from Elizabeth’s she’d been a ball of energy.  She spent all of her time nesting and turning Joseph’s bachelor pad into a place they could raise a family.  And now, with a 100 mile walk ahead of them, Mary didn’t seem daunted at all.  Ever since they’d heard about the census that would take them back to Joseph’s hometown, Bethlehem, Mary had spent her time writing letters to friends and family along the way, making arrangements for where to stay and meticulously planning their route.

The next morning, they would head South through the Jezreel valley, cross the Jordan at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, follow the river down to Jericho, where they would cross again, then head southwest toward Jerusalem.  They would stop in Jerusalem to visit the temple, then head on South to Bethlehem.  Once in Bethlehem, they would stay with Joseph’s cousin Eli along with a few other family members returning home.

It was all planned.  In his bachelor days, Joseph would have just stuffed a few things in a sack and headed out the door.  How different married life was.  No more flying by the hem of his robe.  Mary was a planner, way more than Joseph would have thought a fourteen-year-old girl could be.  But she wasn’t just any fourteen-year-old.  After all, God had chosen her to carry the Messiah.

Wow, that felt weird.   In just a couple of months, Joseph would be dad to Messiah.  Joseph wasn’t even really sure he knew what that meant.  And maybe that was compounding his stress a little, too.  He had never raised anyone, let alone a miracle baby from God destined to deliver the nation.

“Okay, I’m all ready.”  Joseph hadn’t even noticed Mary standing in the doorway.  When he looked up, all of his anxieties melted away.  It was always this way these days.  Joseph would become overwhelmed and drift away into his thoughts, then Mary would appear to snap him back to reality, and his worries would vanish.  Mary simply glowed.  She radiated life and faith.  It was like the life inside of her compounded life around her.  And when he looked at her, Joseph knew that he could trust that God knew what He was doing.

“Joe,” Mary said sweetly, “I’m done outside.  How’s it going in here?”  She didn’t really need to ask.  It was clear from the pile of things on the floor that Joseph hadn’t been making much progress.  “Lost in your thoughts again?” she asked.  She stepped across the room and helped Joseph finish packing.  Finally, all of their provisions packed, Joseph looked down into his wife’s deep brown eyes and said, “Let’s go to bed.  We’ve got a long day tomorrow.”

EPISODE 2

“I love this place.” Atop the Mount of Olives, Mary stood wide-eyed.  It was a long, tough road from Jericho to Jerusalem, but this view from the East always rejuvenated her.

Mary’s family was faithful, and she had come for every feast in her life, but it never got old.  Every time they topped the Mount of Olives and the temple courts expanded into view, her heart skipped a beat.  The closer they drew, the wider her smile became.  Here, she could sense God’s presence.  Here was the only place she could experience anything like the day the angel appeared to her and told her she would have a baby.

As Mary entered the Golden gate, she gave Joseph a knowing look.  This is the gate through which Messiah would enter the temple to lead the Jewish people to freedom.  The gate through which the child in her womb would lead their people.  It was still almost impossible to believe.

Joseph and Mary entered the gate and took the stairs leading to the temple courtyard.

Rising into the courtyard, the noise and press of people was almost overwhelming.  It wasn’t feast time, so the temple wasn’t as busy as Mary had seen it before, but even so people were everywhere, with money changers and merchants calling out to everyone passing by.  Mary knew in her heart of hearts that this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, but even all the distractions couldn’t tear her eyes away from the temple, the very place where God touched the earth.  She absent-mindedly touched her growing belly. 

Joseph and Mary made their way through the East gate and into the Court of the Women, Joseph leading Mary to one of the thirteen trumpet shaped receptacles to give their offering.  As they walked, Mary mused, “Next time we’re here, we’ll have a baby!  I can’t wait to bring him here, to make the sacrifice and dedicate him.” 

Joseph was excited, too, but also a little embarrassed.  They would only be able to offer two pigeons.  Didn’t God’s own son deserve better than that?  Didn’t God’s son deserve the choicest lamb?  A hundred choice lambs?  Standing in this place, all the wonder and glory that captivated Mary twisted Joseph’s insides.  This was the home that Jesus deserved.  Joseph was just a day-laborer from Nazareth.  How could he ever give Jesus the kind of life he deserved?

“What’s the matter?  Worried about how we’re going to take care of him?”  They’d only been married seven months, but Joseph couldn’t hide anything from Mary.  It had been like this even when they were betrothed.  Mary could read people, even strangers, so Joseph had no hope of hiding.  Not that he would want to, not from her.  “Don’t worry, Joe.  God wouldn’t have given us this child if He didn’t know we could care for him.  And if God trusts us, who are we to doubt ourselves?  Come, let’s pray.”

EPISODE 3

“Eli?  I am Joseph, son of Jacob, son of Matthan, son of…”  Eli reached out and embraced his cousin, catching Joseph off-guard.  “Welcome cousin!  I was so glad to receive Mary’s letter.  And there she is!  How are you after your journey?  Please, please, come in.  This is my wife, Anna.”  Eli’s house was typical, with a small, lower area at the front for bringing the animals in in the evenings, then a raised living space beyond that.  There was one guest room off to the side.

As Joseph and Mary surveyed Eli’s home, they found it clean and tidy, and could see evidence of other guests.  They had expected to be the first to arrive, being still two months from the start of the census.  As though he had read their thoughts, Eli said, “My son recently got married and he and his new wife are staying in the guest room.  I think you’ll really get along well.”  With the guest room occupied, Joseph and Mary laid their small pack in the corner of the main room.  Near the front of the raised main room was manger built into the floor.

Mary looked at the manger and thought how much it looked like a cradle.  The day was getting late, and Eli was preparing to bring in his household animals for the night.  “Micah and Elizabeth should be home soon.  They stepped out for a walk just before you arrived.  I would have liked his help this evening, but I don’t want to stand in the way of newlywed bliss.  Joseph, why don’t you help me here?  Mary, would you help Anna grind the flour?  We’ll need plenty of bread with a full house, and more on their way, I’m sure.  Thank you.”

Joseph had never met his cousin and didn’t know what exactly to expect in these troubled times.  It seemed that everyone was suspicious of one another nowadays.  No one knew if the person they were talking to was a Roman sympathizer. 

Political tensions were high.  Herod, ruler of Judea, had expanded the temple in Jerusalem, but he had also built three temples to Caesar Augustus in the region.  Some Jews were willing to overlook Herod’s decadent lifestyle and overtures to Rome because of his work on the Jerusalem temple.  Others, many others, viewed him as a traitor to the Jewish people and a sellout to their Roman oppressors.  Which was Eli?  Joseph wondered.

One thing was certain: Joseph and Mary could tell no one about the angelic visit and that they believed Mary to be carrying Messiah.  The two had talked at length about who they should share their news with.  Joseph thought no one needed to know.  Mary believed they could at least tell the people they were staying with, but with Joseph’s anxiety on edge, Mary conceded that she would tell no one.  As far as anyone in Bethlehem was concerned, Joseph and Mary were just an ordinary couple welcoming their first child.

 “So, what do you think of this census?” Joseph probed.  “Ah, it’s a necessary evil, I suppose.  I don’t love the Romans, but what are we going to do?  At least it’s brought you and your lovely wife here.”  So Eli wasn’t a sympathizer, Joseph thought.  That was good.  He wasn’t exactly a revolutionary either.  But only the craziest advocated for armed resistance to Rome.  That was suicide.  Still, Joseph wasn’t sure how Eli would react if he learned that the baby in Mary’s womb was Messiah.  At best he would think they were crazy and at worst he would report them to the authorities.  Best to keep that secret for now.

Meanwhile, Anna and Mary ground flour for the coming days.  “Anna, thank you so very much for taking us in, especially with the baby coming so soon.”  It was all Mary could do not to tell Anna all that had happened since the angel visited her eight months ago.  They had only just met, but Mary felt she could trust Anna.  Nevertheless, she had made a promise to her husband, a promise she intended to keep.  “We’re so happy you’re here,” Anna reassured Mary.  “It will be wonderful to have a baby in the house.  And Elizabeth will be so glad to have someone her age around.  Just be prepared, Elizabeth is already inquisitive, and when she sees that you’re with child, I’m afraid you’ll never get a moment’s peace.”  Peace.  Mary let the word wash over her.  Right now, in this welcoming home with family and joy embracing her, and with this miracle life growing inside of her, Mary doubted she would ever lack for peace again.

EPISODE 4

As the days went on, Mary’s belly swelled, and so did Bethlehem.  What had started as a town of only about 500 had swelled to more than 2,000.  People were everywhere, with more arriving every day for the census.  Eli’s house seemed like it would burst at any moment with so many people crammed inside.  Eli and Anna, Micah and Elizabeth had been wonderful hosts and now, two months into their stay, those first days when Joseph and Mary were the only guests seemed so far away.

Enough distant family members had arrived that Micah and Elizabeth had to take guests into their room, too.  There were cousins on the floor and cousins in the courtyard and cousins sleeping on the roof.  Joseph and Mary didn’t mind all the people, but navigating the little house with a fully pregnant belly was a challenge.  And the older women trying to care for Mary were starting to wear on her.

Any day now the baby would arrive.  That day could come none-too-soon for Mary, who was just ready to have her body back.  What was most surprising to her, though, was Joseph.  He might have been more eager for the baby’s arrival than Mary.  The waiting was getting to him.  He had found some work in the village to keep him occupied, but nothing could take his mind from the arrival of his son, God’s son. 

It was nearing time for the evening meal when Mary uttered, “Uh, Joe, it’s time.”  As soon as she’d finished speaking, one of Joseph’s older, female cousins elbowed her way through the crowded room.  “Okay, men, out!”  Some of the men tried to protest, asking why Mary couldn’t labor in the guest room.  “There’s no room in there.  And everything we need is out here.  Now, out!  Clear the room!”

The men scurried out the of the room, into the courtyard.  Joseph’s face was flush.  It was time.  Not long now, and they would meet face-to-face the baby they’d so anxiously awaited.  It hardly seemed real.  The men crowded around Joseph, slapping him on the back and tossing his hair.  “Settle in, Joe, it’ll be a while yet,” one of the older fathers advised him.  The men spread around the courtyard, two reclining on a small haystack while the others took their seat on the ground.

“Are you ready?” a younger man asked Joseph.  “I mean, as ready as you can be?”  He doesn’t even know the half of it, Joseph thought.  He hadn’t told a soul about the real identity of his baby.  He certainly hadn’t told the men that he knew it would be a boy.  That would invite all kinds of unwanted questions.  “I suppose I am.  I don’t know.  Can you really be ready?” Joseph answered.  “I am excited, and I know Mary is going to be a great mother.”  The men nodded.

Three hours later, some of the men had fallen asleep, but there would be no sleep for Joseph tonight.  There’d been plenty of noise from inside the house, but no baby’s cry, when Joseph heard a yell unlike any yet.  “This must be it,” he thought.  The baby must be coming.  The yelling continued sporadically for another fifteen minutes, then silence.  That silence seemed to go on forever.  Shouldn’t there be crying by now?  Then he heard it, the first cry of his baby boy.

Before any of the women could come to get him, Joseph rushed into the house.  “Is he here?  Was that him?!” 

“It is.  Joe, come meet your baby boy.”

As the women surrounding Mary parted, Joseph looked on his disheveled, exhausted wife and thought she’d never looked more beautiful.  If she glowed before, she positively shone now.  And there, nestled against her chest was him, their baby…God’s baby.  Joseph was so taken with the scene, he didn’t realize he’d stopped moving until one of the women nudged him.  “Go to them,” she whispered.  He shook himself and slowly approached his wife and son.  Lowering himself, he said to Mary, “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”  Mary just gazed at him with those deep brown eyes, so full of love and life.

After some time holding the child, a midwife approached Mary.  “You need some rest, dear.  Here, let me teach you to swaddle him so you can both sleep.”  The midwife laid out some strips of cloth on the floor, gently took the baby from Mary, laid him on the cloths and demonstrated the proper way to swaddle a newborn.  In no time, Mary had mastered the swaddle.  With no cradle in the room, Mary laid baby Jesus in the manger and lay on the floor next to him. 

Since the birth, the room had been still and quiet, broken by the occasional laugh from the men outside.  But now a different noise was coming from the courtyard.  There seemed to be a commotion happening outside.  Suddenly, a man appeared in the doorway.  “Um, Eli, there are some shepherds here.  They say they’re here to see the baby.”