Luke 2:1-7, 19-20; The birth of Christ given in greater detail by Luke than the other three gospel authors. Joseph had to register in Bethlehem, his ancestral home due to an edict from Roman emperor Caesar Augustus. So he traveled the roughly 100 miles south with his new wife Mary, who was well along in her pregnancy with the Messiah. The little town was crowded, so Mary and Joseph ended up in an animal pen, where the Christ child was born. Humble beginnings for the King of Creation.