What do you do when you're told that you are with child? That the child resting within your body is that of God Himself? That you are carrying The Son of God?
Mary took her cue from the culture in which she lived. She didn't say a word. Instead she went on a journey.
Mary was sure that God's word was true. So she went to her kinswoman Elizabeth. The Bible merely says "she went into the hill country with haste." This 'haste' followed the angel's visit.
Elizabeth likely lived in Ein Karem, five miles from Jerusalem. It was roughly 130 miles from Nazareth. We don't know if Mary went on her own. We don't know if a maidservant went with her or if she traveled with a group. We don't know if her family or Joseph were aware of her journey. "With haste," seems to speak of a sudden decision to go, doesn't it?
Luke is rather casual in his comment. It is likely that the route Mary took would have avoided Samaria which was the most direct route. Samaria was very dangerous for travelers not just because the mountainous roads were treacherous. Thieves often lay in wait at roadside to attack caravans and travelers.
Walking was the only mode of travel available to the people. And a long trek from the farmlands of Nazareth to Judea were not uncommon. Many people traveled the route at least 3 times a year to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts
Ancient records of itineraries and travelogues suggest that people generally travelled an average of 18 miles a day. Accounting for a Sabbath day rest, the journey to Judea would have taken Mary about 8 days to travel. As she walked she would have been steadily going uphill traveling roughly 1300 feet higher than Nazareth. It would have been an arduous journey even for those accustomed to walking.
It was not a small journey for all of Luke's casual reference to her going to see Elizabeth, as if it was a mere matter of walking across town...
In 130 miles one is bound to think things over. Surely, she was concerned about what Joseph would say? And her parents.? Surely she might wonder at this encounter which she'd had, so strange, so wonderfully different that she was sure it wasn't a dream, but could she be sure it was real?
It isn't just the travel that Luke is so casual about.
Mary's life was not what it had been. She'd been a starry eyed young girl dreaming of marriage and now she was carrying a child. As she traveled the road she sank into the words and reality of what she was about to experience.
Personally speaking, when God does something big in your life, the first days are euphoric. Perhaps it made the journey go more swiftly than it might have done. But when the euphoria wears off, the doubt comes in and fear. The consequences of what has happened comes to the surface of your mind. "What if...?" And self doubt had to enter in especially at night when she stared up at the stars before she went to sleep. "Are you sure God? Is it really me you want to use?"
Sometimes the longest journey we make is when we travel with what has happened to us...
song: Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song) Amy Grant
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