Luke 3 · a question people ask
Luke tells that Herod "shut up John in prison" (3:20), and then tells of Jesus's baptism (3:21). Who baptized Jesus in Luke?
Luke doesn't name anyone. His words are, "Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized and was praying" (3:21). Mark says Jesus "was baptized by John in the Jordan" (Mark 1:9), and Matthew says, "Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him" (Matthew 3:13). Mark and Matthew tell of John's arrest later in their books (Mark 1:14, 6:17-18; Matthew 4:12, 14:3-4). Luke tells of it here, at the end of his account of John's preaching (3:19-20), and doesn't say why. The accounts are set side by side. These notes don't fit them together, don't reckon when each thing happened, and don't add a name Luke doesn't give. Favor's Mark 1 asks why Jesus was baptized, and these notes don't ask it again.
The verses
“but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done, added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized and was praying. The sky was opened,”
“In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.”
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him.”
“Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of God’s Kingdom,”