Theater 2: In Matthew there is no longer a baptizing John

in the desert, but it is John with the epithet the Baptist who preaches in the desert.

Luke, the historically interested evangelist, mentions the desert only as the place of the divine instruction to John and has the Baptist preach at the Jordan right away

The desert in which John preaches in Mark is therefore not a real one, but a theatrical desert, the spiritual emptiness in the minds and hearts of the people to whom John preaches conversion, a new beginning.