Jesus goes to the desert to fast for forty days and nights and to be tempted by the devil. That's right, it's written to imply the temptations were part of Jesus' plan. The devil complies and puts various tests, threats and rewards before Him to get Jesus to say he is the Son of God. Jesus rejects each and finally rebukes the devil, calling him Satan for the first time in the NT, and the devil leaves.
The annotations state that this is the first illustration of Jesus' refusal to allow for his personal safety or other practical concerns to sway Him from his personal mission.
Jesus then hears of John's arrest (wha? I missed that) and flees to Galilee. Here he begins his ministry. He recruits his first four disciples, of which Peter is the first, all fishermen. His offer to them is to make them "fishers of men", and they leave their nets and follow Him. His ministry starts to gather fame and He heals the ill and afflicted and his following grows.
Asimov's chapter is about the ancestry of Jesus and charted through the OT. It's actually interesting, but it goes through parts of the OT I haven't gotten to yet. One thing to note is that there is a woman the OT describes as a "harlot", Rahab, in that ancestry. Asimov speculates that perhaps this was to show that Jesus was sent to redeem all, not just observant Jews.
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