Why did she take off on such a journey at that time? St. Matthew tells us that, when he discovered that Mary was with child that he was going to divorce her, but an angel appeared to him in a dream and revealed to him her divine vocation. We read that he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth.

When he grew to maturity John was summoned by the word of God to preach a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, in the desert by the river Jordan. Crowds traveled from Jerusalem, attracted by this strange man, who was clothed in camel's hair (not Brooke's Brothers), like his predecessor Elijah, existing on a diet of locusts and wild honey.

The Old Testament looked forward with longing for the fulfillment of the prophecies of a new age where the forces of darkness would be dispelled by the light of the world. Charles Wesley expressed it in his hymn,

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus,

Born to set Thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us;

Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,

Hope of all the earth Thou art;

Dear Desire of ev'ry nation,

As a result, they have narrowed knowledge to an examination of matter. The physical and the material is the only worthwhile subject of study. But there are limits to physical explanations. Life reduced to the physical leads to fatalism. Because we have no observable evidence of life beyond death (if we arbitrarily exclude the resurrection of Jesus), there is nothing to look forward to in the future but extinction.