Then the disciples realized that Jesus was referring to John the Baptist.
If you're prepared to believe it, he is Elijah, the one who was expected to come.
“but I tell you that Elijah has already come and yet people didn't recognize who he was. They did whatever they felt like to him. In the same way the Son of man will also suffer at their hands.”
When they approached the crowd, a man came to Jesus, and kneeled before him.
Some time later John the Baptist appeared on the scene, proclaiming in the Judean desert,