Luke brings John’s ministry to a close by telling us of his imprisonment before he begins to relate the ministry of Christ. But it may be that there was an overlap between the two ministries. Hendriksen observes, ‘As is so often the case, Luke’s account here is not chronological. John the Baptist probably began his ministry in the middle of the year A.D. 26 … he may have been imprisoned at the close of A.D. 27, and put to death about the beginning of A.D. 29. This would mean that for about a year (late 26-late 27) the ministries of Jesus and of John were concurrent. Luke, not yet having told us anything about Jesus’ ministry, already mentions John’s imprisonment!’ Mark 1:14 tells us that John was imprisoned before the Lord Jesus came into Galilee and began preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Matthew and Mark make the news that John was imprisoned the trigger for Jesus returning to Galilee. John adds another trigger, the news that the Pharisees had heard about the increasing popularity of the Lord (John 4:1). These two triggers must have taken place near to each other since both John and the synoptics are describing the same return from Judea. Both triggers have in common the fact that Jesus did not wish to court unnecessary opposition before his time had come. John 3:24 tells us John was imprisoned after he had been baptizing and there had been a dispute between some of John’s disciples and some of the Jews, and that following the dispute John’s disciples came to him and pointed out that Christ, to whom John had borne witness, was baptizing and many were going to him. This points to the overlap between their ministries.