Why is it when we read Luke 3:1-3, no one reacts?

Here’s the passage:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,

Read that passage slowly.  You have a long list of people in power, and then John.  No one bats an eye at this passage.  But you should.  Here’s the modern-day equivalent:

In the second year of the reign of President Trump, when Tom Wolf was governor of Pennsylvania, and Tim Scott was mayor of Carlisle, during the pastorate of Matthew Best at St. Stephen Lutheran Church, the word of God came to John, the homeless guy living in the tent camp behind Giant.

That’s essentially what is being proclaimed.  In the modern-day version, we sit back and say, who the heck is John the homeless guy and why does he get some kind of special message from God?  He’s just crazy.  He thinks God is talking to him.  How could that be – he doesn’t have any special training.

He’s going around yelling at people, just like John did.  He’s living in his own wilderness, just like John did.  He’s on a unique diet, just like John was.  Yet somehow we don’t bat an eye when we hear this passage applying to John, a homeless guy in the Judean wilderness who yells at people, but we think it’s crazy when we apply it to John, a homeless guy who lives behind Giant who yells at people.

Something to ponder.