Hello William. We're not given the answer to your question, but one can only surmise from the details already provided in Matthew chapter 3 & Matthew 11:2-6 specifically.
From those Scriptures, I believe that John the Baptist knew that Jesus was his cousin. They would have certainly known each other & probably played together as children. When John was led into his ministry by the Lord, he was found in the wilderness of Judaea & in the Jordan area baptizing. So it seems that both he & Jesus may have lost contact with each other for some years, until their coming together in Matthew 3:13. It appears John recognized his cousin at this point, but sadly in Matthew 11, we see an imprisoned John sending out two of his disciples to enquire whether this Worker of miracles was indeed the Christ or if there was another he should be expecting. Whether John was unsure that it was his cousin doing those miracles that he was hearing of, or whether John, in prison, started to weary in faith & hope to have asked such a question, we're not told. John may have questioned in himself, why he was still in prison when the Messiah who had the power to secure his release, was ministering elsewhere - didn't Jesus have some pity for him? We just don't know & I can only offer this for your thoughts & discernment. Though, yes, I believe that they were both fully aware of their family connections.
From those Scriptures, I believe that John the Baptist knew that Jesus was his cousin. They would have certainly known each other & probably played together as children. When John was led into his ministry by the Lord, he was found in the wilderness of Judaea & in the Jordan area baptizing. So it seems that both he & Jesus may have lost contact with each other for some years, until their coming together in Matthew 3:13. It appears John recognized his cousin at this point, but sadly in Matthew 11, we see an imprisoned John sending out two of his disciples to enquire whether this Worker of miracles was indeed the Christ or if there was another he should be expecting. Whether John was unsure that it was his cousin doing those miracles that he was hearing of, or whether John, in prison, started to weary in faith & hope to have asked such a question, we're not told. John may have questioned in himself, why he was still in prison when the Messiah who had the power to secure his release, was ministering elsewhere - didn't Jesus have some pity for him? We just don't know & I can only offer this for your thoughts & discernment. Though, yes, I believe that they were both fully aware of their family connections.
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