A Christmas tale

Since the first Christmas, there have always been two Christmases – one for the poor and the other for the elite or the rich.

Christmas for the poor is the tale of Jesus being born in a manger, a box or trough where animals are fed, in Bethlehem.

“Jesus being born in a manger symbolizes his humble beginnings and the idea that the ‘King of Kings’ came to Earth in a lowly way, not in a palace, signifying his accessibility to all people and his willingness to share in humanity’s struggles; a manger being a feeding trough for animals, represents Jesus as the ‘Bread of Life’,” explains Wikipedia.

It’s an amazing optic: the son of God comes down to Earth not as royalty but as one of the people and a product of virgin birth. And His very first visitors were animals, not humans. That means Jesus was/is the God of humans as well as the God of animals. What can be more inclusive than that? Anyway, many humans behave worse than animals. Ever heard of flood control contractors and people’s elected representatives managing flood control insertions? They behave like animals.

What a funny word – “insertions.” In biology, when you have “insertions,” you are screwed up. When the product is or looks bad, you do “amendments.” That is the function of Congress.

About the other Christmas, the one for the elite or the rich. After Jesus was born, God probably had second thoughts. “Wait a moment, my son is king, the king of kings.” So you have the optics of three kings visiting the King of Kings. Estimates of the number of kings vary, from three to 12. Most reckoning is three kings – because there were three gifts. What about the nine other kings? Well, they probably thought, “What could I give to someone who already has everything?” Jesus was/is, after all, the King of Heaven.

The three kings are world famous – Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar. They represented sprawling continents –Melchor of Persia (now Iran), Gaspar of India (today, the world’s most populous country) and Balthazar of oil-rich Arabia. Ironically, today, Iran is 99 percent Muslim, India 82 percent Hindu and Arabia is an Islamic theocracy where conversion to another religion is a crime.

To me, Melchor, Gaspar and Balthazar were not royalty. Not only that, they were also a bit stupid. They asked for direction from the very guy who wanted to kill the baby Jesus. They traveled for 1,500 kms. To do that, you needed an advance party. You needed security. There was going to be a summit of kings. That’s a huge summit, a big deal, today and by the standards of the past. Having no advance party and having no security, the three kings got lost in their way. You know when the three kings reached Jesus Christ’s manger?

The standard narrative is that the three kings reached Jesus two weeks after Christmas, or Jan. 6. “If the star appeared at the moment of His birth and the magi departed immediately, their journey would have lasted only about 10 days,” relates Wikipedia.

I suspect Jesus was no longer a baby when the three saw Him. He could walk. He could talk. The baby King of Kings was at least two years old. Says Christianity.com: “Church historians such as Eusebius and Epiphanius, citing Matthew 2:16, argued that the magi arrived two years after Jesus’ birth. Others suggested that Jan. 6 was chosen simply for convenience and did not reflect an actual historical date.”

The two years reckoning explains why Herod, the king of Judea, who was trying to build his own dynasty, ordered the killing of all male children age two years and younger. Relates Wikipedia:

“The Gospel of Matthew tells how the magi visit Jerusalem to seek guidance as to where the king of the Jews has been born; King Herod directs them to Bethlehem and asks them to return to him and report, but they are warned in a dream that Herod wishes to find the child and kill him, and do not do so. Matthew continues:

“When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the magi, he was furious and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the magi.”

Herod began as a 15-year-old king. “Herod exhibited wisdom beyond his years. He rose through the political ranks to become king, building cities and impressive edifices. Suspicious and greedy, he executed his wife and children for plotting against him. In his old age, he suffered from a gruesome skin disease and a guilty conscience, eventually leading him to attempt suicide unsuccessfully with a sword,” says the Getty Museum explaining the 15th century art work, “The Massacre of the Innocents.”

Today, our politicians carry on the tradition started by Herod. They build dynasties and in pursuit of that and other objectives, they kill. That explains why Rodrigo Duterte has been in a suburb of The Hague since March 11, 2025, the first Asian leader ordered arrested by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.

Says Human Rights Watch: “Since taking office on June 30, 2016, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has carried out a ‘war on drugs’ that has led to the deaths of over 12,000 Filipinos, to date, mostly urban poor. At least 2,555 of the killings have been attributed to the Philippine National Police. Duterte and other senior officials have instigated and incited the killings in a campaign that could amount to crimes against humanity.”

This explains why Sen. Bato dela Rosa has been in hiding since Nov. 11, 2025. He was the PNP chief during Duterte’s presidency.

This brings me to a third kind of Christmas – one for those behind bars, and the other, for those who are in hiding, fugitives from justice.

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