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It’s hard for Christ followers today to understand the excitement and honor it must have been for the childless priest, Zacharias, to be selected to offer incense in the Temple in Jerusalem [see Luke 1:9]. Even though he was a holy man, yet he was startled and frightened by the visit from the angel Gabriel, who announced that God had heard his prayer about his wife’s infertility and would answer it by giving them a son.
About six months later, Gabriel visited Nazareth, a Galilean village. This time, he visited Mary, the soon to be Mother of Jesus. Gabriel assured her that she had found favor with God [Luke 1:28]. She then began the 60+ mile [as the crow flies] trip from Nazareth to visit her cousin Elizabeth in Judea. In those days, the journey would have taken about 8-10 days—especially since Mary, herself, was pregnant at the time. Upon arrival, she went to Zacharias and Elizabeth’s house.
The traditional site of this meeting is Ein Karem, a small village about 4 1/2 miles from Jerusalem. The Church of the Visitation was built to remember the occasion. Tradition attributes it to Helena, Constantine’s Mother, who identified the site as the home of Zacharias, and the place where he and Elizabeth hid from Herod’s soldiers. Later, the Crusaders identified the site as the place where the meeting between Elizabeth and Mary took place.
It takes about 10 minutes to walk up the hill and 90 steps to the entrance of the church. Among the interesting things to see is a series of Mary's Song of Praise, The Magnificat [Luke 1:46-55], set in ceramic tiles, in over 50 languages.
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