John and Jesus are, of course, not the same person, but their connection is meaningful, and John’s death at the hands of powerful rulers in some ways foreshadows what is to come for Jesus.

Before we even meet Jesus, we meet John the Baptist, who lives in the desert, is “ clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist” and “ fed on locusts and wild honey.

An ancient tooth in a crystal vessel inside a gilded silver frame at the Art Institute of Chicago was long thought to belong to John the Baptist, a contemporary of Jesus. But testing ruled that out.