The Theology of The Little Drummer Boy

When I was little, one of my favorite Christmas shows was “The Little Drummer Boy”. This was long before I became a Christian, but even then, watching this show always brought a tear to my eye. While tiling my bathroom wall, this song came on my iPod and I really listened to the lyrics and thought, you know, those words are pretty good theology.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there is no little drummer boy in the Bible. All we know are that some kings from the East came and visited Jesus (we don’t even really know how many) and brought him some gifts. By the way, Jesus was around 2 years old when these kings came. It was not when he was in the manger.

Anyway, let’s start at the beginning of “The Little Drummer Boy”.

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum

In the Bible, Andrew is one of the first to meet Jesus. Immediately after meeting Jesus, he finds his brother Peter. John 1:40-42a says, “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.”

This should be our reaction as well. When we meet Jesus, we should be going out and bringing others to Him.

Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,

This should be our attitude, to lay our finest gifts before Christ. Malachi 3:10 says, “’Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty,‘ and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

If we bring God our best, He’ll bless us for that. But, here’s the big question, what is our best?

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,

Like the little drummer boy, we may often feel that we have nothing of any real value to bring to Christ. We may feel that we’re not that talented, so there’s no place in ministry for us. We’re not rich, so we can’t lay gold, Frankincense or Mir at His feet. We have nothing to bring Him, nothing to give Him, nothing to do for Him, so we do nothing and go our own way.

I’d like to explore two answers to the question of what we can bring Christ. The first is given by the prophet Samuel in 1Samuel 15:22. “But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

The one gift that we can all give to Christ is our obedience. Christ said in John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” God wants us to love Him and we do that by following His commands. That is one gift that is worthy of The King that any Christian can bring.

I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,
…
Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

The little drummer boy, though, provides us with the second answer. One gift we can bring to Christ is to do our best for Him in no matter what it is. Think about it. Does God really need anything from us? No, He has everything. He created everything. Nothing we could give him, in the material sense, means anything to Him. But, God is our heavenly father, and He delights in His children when they do their best for Him. If you have children of your own, just think back to the delight you had when they drew a picture for you. Even if it was a bunch of scribbles, it was the best your child could do at the time and you were delighted. God is the same way. We’re not all called to be “great” as the world defines great. But, we are all called to do our best for the Lord.

Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,”

1Corinthians 9:24 says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

It’s not what we can do that concerns God. It’s not how well we can do it. Rather, it’s the state of our heart when we do something. Are we working for God and are we doing our best? Psalms 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Like the little drummer boy, we may not feel that what we do is worthy of the God who created the universe, but if we humble ourselves and do our best and do what we do for God and not ourselves, then we too one day will stand before Christ and he will say to us, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matthew 25:21).