in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

 Here we have Luke's genealogy of Jesus. The Jews were interested in genealogies. Genealogies, especially of the priests, who had to prove unbroken descent from Aaron, were kept amongst the public records. In the time of Ezra and Nehemiah we read of priests who lost their office because they could not produce their genealogy ( Ezra 2:61-63; Nehemiah 7:63-65). 