"Now many people came in crowds to him, for they were greatly moved by his words. Herod, who feared that the great influence John had over the masses might put them into his power and enable him to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best to put him to death. In this way, he might prevent any mischief John might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly John was sent as a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I already mentioned, and was put to death."

The wedding took place in 34 CE and the execution of John would have been in 35 or 36 CE.

JOHN was the one sent by God before Jesus

[John was indeed the one prophecied to come before the LORD (Isaiah 40 & Malachi 3).

"In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. " Matthew 3:1-3

Furthermore, the people who came to John repented of their sins and then they were baptized; therefore, it is said John's was the baptism of repentance:

"Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." Acts 19:4

However, the Gospel account recorded in John, gives some insight into "baptism" and the Jews:

"And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?

And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.

And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias?

And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.

Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?

He said, I [am] the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?" John 1:19-25

Clearly, the Pharisees were not surprised that John was baptizing; they were surprised he was baptizing if he were not Christ, Elias, or "that prophet" (Deut 18). Yeshua (Jesus) was Messiah (Christ) and "that prophet" prophecied in Deut 18.

The Old Testament does not refer to baptism, but the Jews had (and still have) a ritual cleansing called a Mikveh. The Mikveh was a ritual purification in which the person is fully immersed in water. Mikvehs were not done in the temple, but in rivers, pools, or even homes. This practice correlates very well with the baptism of John.

Of course, the baptism later became the way followers of Messiah professed their faith in the one true God (the sinful man symbolically dying, and the spiritual man symbolically born; it is also a type and a shadow of the ressurection to come when Messiah returns).]

And all the people that heard [him], and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him." So I believe the answer to the question is that that Pharisees and Sadducees came to John to find what was going on and who the madman was. John exclaimed to them in Matthew 3:8, 'Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:' , which indicates that they, the all powerful religious leaders of the Jews needed to repent and start living a more righteous life with goodly works and loving hearts before being considered for baptism in the Kingdom of God. Getting back to the new phenomena - Baptism - that had arrived in Israel, one could argue that the reason the Jews, especially the Pharisees and Sadducees, were not at all surprised by the act of baptism was because John the Baptist had preached this doctrine or in other word, preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the area for many days, weeks or months and that the people had become accustomed to it. I doubt this also. It is in my opinion that repentance and the remission of sins through Baptism began when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden. Prior to this they knew not what was good or evil and they were not ashamed to walk naked in the Garden. When they ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil they knew, and were ashamed of their nakedness. They fell from the presence of God and from that time forth they and their sons and daughters had the freedom to choose, whether it be good or evil. To be consistent with the order and purpose of baptism, the Gospel of Jesus Christ would have been preach and baptism for the remission of sins preformed. I will leave all you good people with a verse from Jeremiah 52:20 concerning the Brazen Sea that was in Solomon's temple, "The two pillars, one sea, and twelve brazen bulls that [were] under the bases, which king Solomon had made in the house of the LORD:…" I believe the Brazen Sea, to be a font for Baptisms>

Another answer from our community:

John the Baptist had older parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth. He is believed to have been orphaned at a young age and was fostered by Essene monks in a desert monastery. That is why he was strange in his behavior of sack cloth garments and wilderness food. This is all conjecture but it would explain a lot.

Some say that Mark compares John the Baptist to Elijah (Elias), but he is also compared to Jesus, one mightier than he (Mark 1:7) and when Herod thinks Jesus is John returned from the dead (6:14). Mark's Gospel more frequently compares Jesus to Elijah, because whenever Elijah is mentioned, the reference associates Jesus with Elijah. Although the later gospels seem to make this connection, the nearest in Mark is in verses 9:11-13, which seem to require a knowledge of the later gospels in order to say that Jesus could have been referring to John the Baptist as Elijah.

When we look at the framework parallel structure of Mark, we can see a direct literary comparison between John at the beginning of the gospel and the young man at the end of the gospel. A parallel structure is a literary sequence in which an opening set of events is contrasted with another, parallel set of events that mirrors the first, using association for emphasis and to develop themes that would not otherwise be apparent, as can be seen from pair A in the following summary table: A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

In the above table, we can see the literary comparison between John the Baptist, who announces the arrival of Jesus, to the young man who announces the departure of Jesus (originally Mark ended at verse 16:8, and the 'Long Ending' was added much later).

Verse 1:6 describes John in terms that draws a parallel to Elijah. We can also see from the above that Jesus is compared to Elijah in event D, verse 1:13. The Transfiguration at verse 9:4-13 (event D') points back to verse 1:13, the story of Jesus going into the wilderness, where he was ministered by angels just as Elijah was ministered by an angel and in the wilderness forty days (1 Kings 19:5-7). There is no actual suggestion that Jesus fasted for this time, but those familiar with the story of Elijah are likely to have assumed he did do so, and this is made explicit in Matthew and Luke. This brings into play another allusion, to Moses when (Exodus 34:28) he fasted for 40 days while he wrote the words of the Ten Commandments on tablets.

Event P (6:14) tells us that Herod Antipas thought Jesus was John returned from the dead. In Event P', when asked what authority he had to do these things, Jesus asked the priests, scribes and elders whether the baptism of John was of heaven or of men.

A:

According to Luke's Gospel, Jesus probably would have known John the Baptist, although Jesus lived in provincial Galilee while John must have lived in or near Jerusalem. However recent scholarship has cast doubts on this relationship. For example, John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) says that neither of the nativity stories contains any historical truth. Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says that the nativity accounts are, with respect to time, place, and circumstances, a collection of legends. She even says that both Zacharius and Elizabeth, supposedly John's parents, were literary creations by the author of Luke's Gospel.