Elizabeth was the obvious choice.  She had the benefit of years and stability, of husband and home.  She and her husband, Zechariah, a priest, were both “righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and the regulations of the Lord”  (Luke 1:6-7).  She seems like the ideal candidate to bear the Son of God, but the angel Gabriel was sent to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a woman whose name was Mary.  All we know of Mary is that she is a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph.  Mary has found favor with God, as she sings, on account of her low estate.  “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant”  (Luke 1:46-48).  She sees her own low station in life in contrast to the greatness of God, singing about the tearing down of the rich and powerful and the lifting up of the lowly and hungry.