The Little Drummer Boy… if you know me, you know that I love that song. I know it’s not a true story, but it’s a story that I’ve always loved, nonetheless.
I love the story of Mary and Joseph… super powerful.
I love the story of the Shepherds and the Magi from the East… super encouraging!
All of those stories… 100% true.
And the Little Drummer… well, it was a fictitious character made famous in the popular Christmas song first recorded in 1955.
Now, I’m not sure when I first heard the song, but I’m pretty sure it was in the mid to late 70’s and upon hearing it, I LOVED IT!
I’m not a fan of the million repeats of ‘pa-rum-pa-pum-pums’, but what I love about this song is how it begins with an invitation. Presumably, the Little Drummer Boy is invited to join the Magi as they go to see the newborn King. Again, just so we’re clear, I am well aware that the Little Drummer Boy is a fictitious character so grant me some creative leeway in this, but I’m guessing the Little Drummer Boy must have had the thought…
“Me… who am I that the King would want to see me?”
Maybe, for psychological reasons I won’t explore here, I envision the Little Drummer Boy having that thought because I’ve had that thought on more than one occasion. And I might be wrong, but I’m guessing at some level, we’ve all had that same thought…
“Me… who am I that the King would want to see me?”
Much of the Christian journey regardless of your backstory is a journey of UNLEARNING so that we might LEARN rightly who God is and what God is like.
Over the years, there has been much that I’ve needed to UNLEARN but maybe the most difficult thing for me to UNLEARN has been the idea that King Jesus would want nothing to do with me. After all, I know who I am, and I know what I’ve done, and I know how dark my mind and heart can be. If I know all that, certainly He does as well…ERGO, why would King Jesus want me to be with Him?
I realize I’m projecting my ‘issues’ on the fictious Little Drummer Boy, but if he truly did exist and I meet him in heaven one day I will apologize for this. That to say, I’m thankful the Little Drummer Boy said, ‘yes’ to the invitation and went to meet the Savior King.
Now at some point, the Little Drummer Boy noticed that everyone else was bringing some sort of extravagant gift to honor this newborn King, but he had nothing… well, he had his drum.
And as the song goes, the Little Drummer Boy asks Mary if he can play for Jesus. Now this is where the story takes a turn for being a bit unrealistic… no mom in her right mind would allow anyone to play a drum for a newborn baby. But if we can look past this detail, similar to how we just look past ‘time travel’ in movies today, well, we get to the heart of the song for me.
King Jesus had no need, that is to say, He was lacking nothing. And like the boy and his drum, we don’t have much to offer Him, but what made the Savior King smile was not the skills of playing a drum, but that the drummer showed up.
You and I have nothing to offer the King.
You and I have nothing we could bring the King that might impress.
You and I have nothing that makes us more endearing to the King.
But this is the beauty of the gospel that I see in the Little Drummer Boy – the newborn King simply smiled that the boy arrived. And just so you know, King Jesus still smiles when we show up as we are, not as we think we should be. Jesus is pleased not with what we have in hands to give Him… yes, He can use those things for our good and the good of those around us, but the beauty, power, and simplicity of the gospel is that King Jesus was pleased to come to make a way for us to be with Him today, tomorrow, and throughout eternity.
So, I have a slightly ‘tweaked’ invitation for you from my favorite song ‘The Little Drummer Boy’...
“Come, and keep coming to see and be with the King for He smiles upon you.”
