The story begins in the period immediately after the lifetime of Jesus when as yet there were no written accounts of any sort, but the tradition about him was preserved entirely by word of mouth. So far as the material in our Gospels is concerned, it was preserved during this period exclusively by Christians. Although St. Mark was no biographer, by linking together the various separate stories and groups of stories with summary passages of his own composition, he has produced what is, so far as its form is concerned, a connected historical narrative. It tells of the Lord's baptism by John the Baptist, of a subsequent varied ministry in Galilee, of some journeys outside Galilee ending with a journey to Jerusalem, and finally of a series of events -- the entry upon the ass, the cleansing of the temple, the scene in the treasury, and the like -- which must obviously have taken place in Jerusalem. - Introduction.