3:1–6 Luke relates the appearance of John the Baptist to the political and religious authorities of the time, just as he did in the infancy narratives of John (1:5) and Jesus (2:1–2). (For details regarding these authorities see notes below.) The second half of v. 2 brings John back into the story: The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert (see 1:80). The expression is reminiscent of the calls that God extended to the OT prophets (Isa. 38:4; Jer. 13:3) and is actually borrowed from the LXX version of Jer. 1:1–2 (“the word of God came to Jeremiah son of Hilkiah”). From this we may infer that Luke views John on the same level as the OT prophets (which is in keeping with John’s inclusion with the prophets in Luke 16:16). Now John is able to begin his ministry of preparing Is…