“Mark provides us, for example, with the first mention in Christian history of the figure we call John the Baptist. Mark is the first to relate the story of Jesus’ baptism and the account of his temptation in the wilderness. He is the first to suggest that the betrayal was by the hand of one of “the twelve.” He is the first New Testament writer to associate miracles with the memory of Jesus. He is the first to assert that Jesus taught in parables.”