Hundreds of people crammed into little seats while straining to catch a glimpse of your child acting out his role as “Sheep 3,” or perhaps one of the finer roles like Mary or Joseph or even baby Jesus. Matthew 21:7 “They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. His long ears twitched over a broad smile as if he understood her and was pleased with his new name!

Mary traveled with Joseph on a donkey | Bibleview

One evening when Mary was having dinner with Joseph and her future inlaws, Joseph decided to introduce Donkey to Mary and let her decide on a proper name for him. We also know Mary never had any relations with Joseph and both were chosen by God to be Jesus’ earthly parents. Thus, the manger becomes a reference to the table of God in which we are invited to receive the Bread of Life. The trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem could have taken 4-6 days by foot to cover the 120 km or 75 mile journey. A few months ago, the day Joseph first brought you to his parents’ stable, I had a visitor from Heaven.The most common image of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem features a pregnant Mary riding a donkey, while Joseph is leading the way on foot. Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you. However, most modern biblical scholars say that it is more likely that the Holy Family traveled in a caravan of people. Use of the donkey illustrations except with attribution and links to this site are strictly prohibited.

Did Mary ride a donkey to Bethlehem? - Aleteia

But Donkey was so kind and helpful that wherever he happened to be living at the time, he made many friends. Mary was still in her teens, several years younger than Joseph, but he had been attracted to Mary for a long time. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. Almost every film, every play, and every nativity scene planted in front yards depicts Mary on a donkey. Jerusalem covered one square mile and had an estimated population of 200,000, with one million pilgrims annually, mainly arriving for the religious feasts.

As a very young colt, whenever Donkey was moved to a different farm and met some new donkeys, he would trot up to a lady donkey and ask with renewed hope, “Are you my mama? Whatever it might have been, the road was arduous, and their journey encourages us along our own spiritual journey to the feast of Christmas.