1. Beginning of the Baptist's ministry (Mt.3,1-6; Mk.1,1-6; Lk.3,1-6; Jo.1,6,23)Jo.1,6 There wasa man sent fromGod, whosename was John.Mk.1,1 The begin-ning of the gospelof Jesus Christ,the Son of God.Lk.3,1-2 "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pila-te being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and hisbrother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysani-as tetrarch of Abilene; in the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, theword of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.1. The Situation at the Time of John’s AppearanceMark begins his Gospel by announcing its purpose: to proclaim the joyful news of the coming of Jesus (Yah-weh saves) Christ (Anointed One, Messiah), the Son of God1. Thus, Mark professes that Jesus is the Redee-mer of the world, the Messiah foretold by the prophets, the only Son of the Father.Luke opens the account of the public life with a listing of data that demonstrates his care as a historian. At thedeath of Herod in the year 750, his vast kingdom was divided according to the testamentary provisions of theking into an ethnarchy assigned to Archelaus, son of the Samaritan Malthace; and three tetrarchies where therulers held less authority. This division included Judea and Samaria, while Galilee, Perea, and the regionsacross the Jordan were assigned to the Tetrarch Herod Antipas, son of the same Malthace; and the region northof the Sea of Galilee, Iturea (the northwest) and Trachonitis (the northeast), to Philip, son of the Jewish Cleo -patra (different from the Egyptian one).Archelaus, son of Herod the Great and his successor in Judea, gave the Romans the opportunity to apply theircore maxim in Palestine as well: Divide et impera, “divide and rule.” They came to the aid of “the people op-pressed by tyranny.” Archelaus was impulsive and just as tyrannical as his father. Uprisings broke out almosteverywhere from the moment he took power. His response was bloody ...