{The Word of God came unto John} (egeneto rh(886d)a theou epi
I(9361)n(886e)). The great epoch marked by egeneto rather than (886e).
Rh(886d)a theou is some particular utterance of God (Plummer),
common in LXX, here alone in the N.T. Then John is introduced as
the son of Zacharias according to Chapter 1. Matthew describes
him as the Baptist, Mark as the Baptizer. No other Gospel
mentions Zacharias. Mark begins his Gospel here, but Matthew and
Luke have two Infancy Chapters before. Luke alone tells of the
coming of the word to John. All three Synoptics locate him "in
the wilderness" (en t(8869) er(886d)(9369)) as here,  Mr 1:4  Mt 3:1 
(adding "of Judea").