<p>1:40 <i>And entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elisabeth</i>- The usual girlie teenage thing would have been to go talk to her contemporaries about it. But not Mary. She went on probably the longest journey she had ever made, and probably alone, to see Elisabeth. She describes herself as the lowly, the hungry, who had been exalted and fed&hellip; whereas the proud and haughty had been disregarded. These words, and the evident allusions she makes back to Hannah&rsquo;s song, could be read as reflecting what had actually been wrought in Mary&rsquo;s own person and experience by some kind of persecution in her childhood. And it drove her within herself. It seems that she had been deeply humbled in order for her to be highly exalted. One wonders if she had been sexually abused. If Joseph was indeed much older than her, then we can understand how it happened that this girl, mature as she was beyond her years, got attracted to an older and spiritual man. Her spirituality and intelligence for her allusions to Scripture indicate a fine appreciation of so much would have been enough to spark plenty of village jealousy. Jn. 2:11,12 speak of three groups- the disciples, who believed, the brothers of Jesus who didn&rsquo;t&nbsp;(Jn. 7:5), and Mary, whose level of faith isn&rsquo;t commented upon. She stands alone. Recognizing this tendency to isolationism within her, the Father seems to have encouraged Mary to open herself up to Elisabeth, encouraging her that her relative was in a somewhat similar position, having been barren for a lifetime and now expecting a child. Although Elisabeth was somewhat distant from Mary, Mary immediately goes to see her, following the prompting of the Lord. The record is styled to show the experiences of the two pregnancies as parallel:<br />-&nbsp;&ldquo;The virgin&rsquo;s name was Mary&rdquo; (1:27) = &ldquo;her name was Elisabeth&rdquo; (1:5).<br />- Both were startled at the Angelic appearances (1:12,29), and were comforted not to be afraid.<br />- &ldquo;You will call his name John&hellip; you will call his name Jesus&rdquo;.<br />- &ldquo;He will be great&hellip; he will be great&rdquo;.<br />- &ldquo;How am I to know this?&rdquo;, and the Angel responded; &ldquo;How shall this be?&rdquo;, and likewise the Angel responded.<br />- Both were given signs- the dumbness of Zacharias, and the pregnancy of Elisabeth.<br />- Both John and Jesus are described as growing up and becoming strong (Lk. 1:80; 2:40). &nbsp;</p><p>This is not the only time when we see circumstances repeating between Bible characters. The similarities were to direct them back to former and contemporary examples, to find strength. And this is one of the basic reasons for Christian fellowship amongst believers. Yet it would seem that as time went on, Mary became more introverted, she stored up &ldquo;all these things&rdquo; in her heart and couldn&rsquo;t share them with others. Whilst due to her unique path this is understandable, it may be related to the loss of spiritual perception and activity which it seems set in after she gave birth to Jesus.&nbsp;</p>