“What sweeter music can we bring/ Than a carol for to sing/ The birth of this our heavenly King?” The lines of this seventeenth-century poem “What Sweeter Music” by Robert Herrick were reimagined by modern-day choral composer John Rutter to become an Advent season favorite. Its gentle melody describes a long, cold season of waiting that’s thawed by the springtime feeling of Jesus’ arrival. The singers bring Him a Christmas carol; the listeners are invited to bring their hearts.
Rutter’s arrangement was commissioned to correspond with a church reading on the wise men who brought Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh. These mysterious magi traveled a great distance to meet baby Jesus with the express purpose of worshiping Him (Matthew 2:1-2). When they finally found Him, they “were overjoyed,” bowed down in reverence, and “opened their treasures” at His feet (vv. 10-11). Warned in a dream, they left without informing wicked King Herod (v. 12).
The Christmas season shouldn’t focus on material gifts—but it’s certainly about giving and receiving gifts. God gave His Son to heal a broken world. If we’ve never given Him our hearts, today’s a wonderful day to do so. If He already reigns there, let’s offer a carol of peace and joy as we think about His arrival all those years ago in Bethlehem—and wait for His return.
What are some of the greatest gifts of Christmastime? What might you be reluctant to give over to God?
Dear Jesus, You’re the greatest gift of all. Everything I am, and everything I have, I give back to You.
Matthew’s gospel is bookended by the worship of Jesus (2:1; 28:17). In both accounts, readers see what the proper response to Christ should be. Based on what had been revealed to them, “Magi from the east came to Jerusalem” (2:1), bearing gifts to honor Jesus. They asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (v. 2). “Worship[ed]” (vv. 2, 8, 11) translates the word proskyneō—meaning “to fawn,” “to “crouch down” (literally or figuratively), “to prostrate oneself in homage” (reverence, adore). Matthew’s account of Christ shows that worship is the proper response to Him (see 8:2-3; 9:18-22; 14:33; 15:25-28; 28:9). The final use of the word worship[ed] in this gospel occurs in the last scene of the book, after the resurrection: “When they saw him, they worshiped him” (28:17). Today, as we celebrate Jesus—the greatest gift ever given—may we also respond with worship.
