It is almost to impossible for us to understand how worried Jesus was when he was not allowed to call Joseph "father" especially in a Jewish community which attached great importance to their paternal lineage. Moses' commandment was for the descendants of Abraham and it might not include those who could not determine their father. Jesus, who was said to teach in the temple since twelve years old, must be overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death when he knew the secret of his birth.

But when he met John the Baptist, he could be released from his writhe. John who called people to produce fruit in keeping with repentance, made nothing of the lineage of Abraham. John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him in the Jordan River, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Luke 3:7-9)

The secret of Jesus' birth tormented his disciples too. We can perceive it through reading the genealogy from Abraham to Joseph in the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, in the episode of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke and the Gospel of John's famous opening sentence of "In the beginning was the Word". The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke both show us the genealogies trying to prove Joseph was in David's lineage but the two genealogies contradict each other.

The belief of the virgin birth as Jesus' mother Mary conceived him through the Holy Spirit is based on the following description of Old Testament - Isaiah "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel". Originally it only said "a young woman" in Hebrew but when Old Testament was translated into Greek it was written as "a virgin". The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke both quote this description but their episodes were quite different.

But these genealogies and episodes are essential to Matthew, Luke and John's faith and their faith should be known as truth, since there is no deception. The disciples nurtured these faith through the activities with Jesus, witnessing the crucifixion of Jesus and their experience of persecution from then.

Jesus himself denied that he was the son of David according to Matt 22:43-45 but he liked to call himself as "the son of man" This appellation is said to be referred to the following descriptions of Old Testament - Daniel 7:13-14.

"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed."

I think that Jesus used the word "the son of man" as a testimony of following truth to all nations. The son (daughter) of man is the only child of God irrespective of the son (daughter) of tax collector, prostitute or any other man and can inherit the kingdom prepared for him (her) since the creation of the world. The only child means irreplaceable child but is irrespective of one or myriad. From this point of view there is nothing initially, nowhere where the dust alights and everybody is born of a virgin not withstanding he (she) has parents who are thieves or prostitutes.

But on the other hand there is no pure man in this world. Everybody has karma or original sin. The original sin is not sin which was committed at once during the era of Adam and Eve but have been committed repeatedly since then. So one's life is not enough to atone for inherited sins and has to atone continuously by one's remotest descendants. If it goes this way, we may not expect to live in heaven. And even if we get to heaven, we can not escape from retribution of sins which we made on earth. Jesus said "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."(Matt 16:19)

But Jesus also said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."(Mark11:23-24)

He said following too." I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."(Matt17:20)

Jesus probably wanted to teach that the salvation was in the practice itself. Even if it is the endless way, when you decide to practice consistently with the self (the Mandate of Heaven or the holy spirit) you have already been salvaged. The important thing is to grasp the Self and keep hold of it. (Eko-an Hensho-koji 2006/01/31)

Heaven's command is called the self, keeping the self is called the way and practicing the way is called the religion.

Kongzi said "San, my way is to practice consistently with the Self."

Ceng said "Yes."

After Konzi had gone out, one of his disciples asked "What dose it mean?"

Ceng answered "Our teacher's way is concluded to be merciful as the self of universe is merciful."