Matrix: the womb, the place wherein something takes form or originates (Websters collegiate dictionary).

In Matthews Christmas narrative there were three kings interacting in those hills around Jerusalem a couple of millennia ago.

Or more accurately, there were two kings and a small tight group of what may have been kings. The three were on a collision course. So the first character in the story is really a small group, but they act as one and they are called the Magi. Best guesses and best scholars place these guys from the east, in Parthia. Perfect. Parthia clashed repeatedly with the Roman empire and was led by men who were known for being both kings and mystical wise men.  Rome, despite its power and reach, was never able to defeat this formidable power to the east.

The second character of Matthews account is King Herod, the quasi-Jew, who stands as representative of Rome. He based his dubious authority on slick political wrangling, Romes brute power, and he has the character of many of the later emperors of Rome: despicable and debauched.

The third player is, as we all know, baby Jesus. He is the one we all celebrate this season and sometimes, ironically, in the poor way that we do it, we make him much smaller than his infancy in this story suggests. Although Herod and Jesus never actually meet, it is still a collision between the three parties. The magi are coming to worship. Their meeting with the infant is simple adoration. They have a presupposition about the child, and despite his drooling, little-fingered, little-toed dependency, they are in absolute awe. And depending on the clarity of their theology, it is possible they have seen in him the source of all their hopes. They basically brush aside Herod and run directly into God on earth.

Herod believes at a basic level and that is why he destroys. Unfortunately he has the same belief as Satan and much of humanity, and therefore he irrationally sees himself as The Great. Someone once called sin the ultimate irrationality. He checks out the prophecies and tries to kill them as well as the children that he slaughters in Bethlehem and its environs. It is insanity at the most obvious level.  Herod would nod and wink at the latest cultural insanity. It is no longer the Christmas tree at the White House and houses throughout the country, its the holiday tree. Try to kill the name and maybe, just maybe, the reality it stands for wont disturb you. Try to kill the baby? And the end of Herods greatness is about what you would expect: madness and devastation.

Was the third kings mind reaching out and drawing them, while doing all those little baby things? All the scholastic theories about this kings nature seem to be short-sighted and incomplete, if not damaging.

What the written account claims about him is much, but lets focus on four things.

First, historically he really was very God become man. Second, his existence and this event, while being part of nature, is also way beyond nature. Third, he became us for us, a human for all humanity. Fourth, despite the incongruity and nonsensicalness of it all, he is the king at all times, in all permutations.

Our mature magi-like response is to worship baby Jesus. I love this season; but it isnt just about family and nostalgia, but rather a reminder once again to fall and worship the one who created all things and for whom all things were created.

We can be the wise men or we can be Herod.

Fred Long is currently an elementary school teacher in Irrigon.