In another account, Joseph and Mary, who was then nine months pregnant, traveled more than 175 kilometers (68 miles ) from Nazareth to Bethlehem of Judea, Joseph’s hometown, in order to be counted in a Roman census.
Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth when both of them are expecting their babies. Elizabeth’s baby “leaped in her womb” when Mary entered the house and called a greeting.
They would travel past Jerusalem to get to the home of Zecharias and Elizabeth , who lived southwest of Jerusalem, about four miles, in a village called ain Karim, which means “spring in the vineyard”. When Mary entered the house of Zecharias and Elizabeth , she greeted Elizabeth , saying “Shalom (peace)”.
Also there, she married Joseph. However, it was in the town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born. One can ask: Why spouses decided to walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem, while Virgin Mary was in such an advanced pregnancy? That was indeed a long journey, which might have taken them from four up to seven days .
Some apocryphal accounts state that at the time of her betrothal to Joseph, Mary was 12–14 years old . According to ancient Jewish custom, Mary could have been betrothed at about 12. Hyppolitus of Thebes says that Mary lived for 11 years after the death of her son Jesus, dying in 41 AD.
The journey from Nazareth to Hebron is about 130 kilometres (81 mi) in a direct line, probably up to half as far again by road, depending on the route taken. Elizabeth was in the sixth month before Mary came (Luke 1:36). Mary stayed three months, and most scholars hold she stayed for the birth of John.
Everything we know about Saint Joseph , the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus, comes from the Bible, and mentions of him are underwhelming.
The annunciation to the shepherds is an episode in the Nativity of Jesus described in the Bible in Luke 2, in which angels tell a group of shepherds about the birth of Jesus . It is a common subject of Christian art and of Christmas carols.
The circumcision of Jesus is an event from the life of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke chapter 2, which states: And when eight days were fulfilled to circumcise the child, his name was called Jesus, the name called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
When Mary went to visit her relative Elizabeth , and greeted her, it is written that The baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.In the same passage of scripture Luke 1:44, Elizabeth informs Mary that, “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears,the baby in my How else would
26 And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth,27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary .
Luke’s biblical account of the travel of the Virgin Mary to Jordan to visit Elizabeth , her “cousin.” Elizabeth was actually Mary’s aunt, sister of Anna, Mary’s mother. Joida, High Priest of Aaron, was father of Elizabeth and Anna, and thus grandfather of Jesus and of John the Baptist.
Matthew does not mention Nazareth as being the previous home of Joseph and Mary; he says that Joseph was afraid to go to Judea because Herod Archelaus was ruling there and so the family went to Nazareth instead.
This also meant that Joseph and the very pregnant Mary would have had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem , as this was town that Joseph’s family (the royal family of David) originally came from – a journey of about 70 miles (112 kilometres). Most houses would have been shared with the animals that the family kept.
He felt that people had forgotten the meaning of Christmas and wanted a visual reminder for people of the importance of Jesus birth . The stable reminds us that Jesus came into the world with nothing. The shepherds represent us – the people that Jesus came to serve.