How to undress a dragon

This blog is in response to the new movie, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader".  It was a great movie, but I was disappointed with some of the things they added and especially disappointed with some of the things they omitted, especially the part about How to undress a dragon.

My first exposure to C.S. Lewis' writings came when I was a freshman at Evangel University.  Since that time, I never grew tired of reading his work, especially the fiction...especially the Chronicles of Narnia.  I read them repeatedly through my college years.  Linda and I have read them many times over the years.  My favorite memories of the stories involve me reading them to my little ones.  I read them in character, to best of my ability.  I gave voice to all; from beavers to badgers, dwarfs to dryads, and Lucy to the Lion.  You should hear me as Reepicheep the mouse...pretty good I must say.  Maybe that is because I can relate to him especially well. :) Reep, small though he was, never met a danger or a foe that would defeat him.  He fought valiantly under the banner of Aslan the Great...using all of his best tools; sword, shield, whiskers, and tail (for balance).

We find mighty Reepicheep extremely bothered when he meets a young brat named Eustace in "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader".  Unlike his cousins (Edmond and Lucy) who are Narnian Royalty, Eustace has no use for Narnia, talking mice, or anything magical.  Eustace, you see, was a very practical, extremely selfish, and altogether clueless young man.  Throughout the story, Eustace and Reepicheep find themselves at odds with one another...a very tense situation. 

During a stop-over at a place called "Dragon Island" Eustace sneaks away from the rest of the ship's crew and his cousins, to take a nap, and avoid work.  Making a long story short, Eustace comes upon a dying dragon, and witnesses the beast die (of old age, I think).  Eustace then stumbles upon the cave filled with dragon treasure (all dragons collect gold, jewels and the like).  He is very excited at his great fortune and, while digging through the treasure, he falls asleep.  If you know the tale, you know that when Eustace awoke, he had morphed into a full-sized fire breathing, winged creature...a dragon.  It took him a while to figure this fact out...a very funny picture of him scaring himself to death, thinking a dragon was after him when, all the while, he was watching his own tail, claws etc.

Making a long story even shorter, Eustace made his way back down to the beach in order to attempt communication with Edmond, Lucy, and the others (which is quite difficult when one cannot talk and every time you attempt to talk you belch fire).  You won't be surprised to know that Reepicheep was one of the first on hand, ready to kill this beast with his bear paws, if necessary.  But they realized that the dragon was trying to communicate.  After a great deal of head-wagging, clawing words in the sand, etc, Eustace made his point, much to everyone's surprise and despair.  How, pray tell, were they to take a gigantic beast with them on the remainder of their long journey? 

If you have not read the story, you might be surprised to know that, every night while Eustace curled up for a sad night of misery, his former enemy Reep joined him and stayed with him all night...to keep him company and to cheer him up. 

The part I really want to share happened a few nights into Eustace’s dragon life.  A lion (It was Aslan but Eustace did not yet know him as Aslan) brought Eustace to a large pool of crystal clear water.  Aslan spoke (without speaking) and instructed Eustace to take a bath...telling him he must undress first.  Eustace thought that since he was a snaky sort of a creature, he should be able to shed his skin.  So the dragon scratched and scraped himself until he was able to step out of his skin, like peeling a banana. 

"But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before.  Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too."

So Eustace scratched and tore some more and peeled off his skin again.  But when he saw his reflection in the water, he knew he was still covered in scaly skin.  He realized he couldn't shed these layers on his own.  At that moment Aslan let Eustace know that he would have to help him undress, which frightened the dragon, but he knew that was his only option.  In desperation, Eustace lay still and allowed the great huge sharp lion claws to rip deep into his chest...right into his heart, tearing away the skin. 

"...it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt.  the only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off.  You know--if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place.  It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away."

After Aslan finished the "un-dressing," Eustace was a boy again...with new smooth skin.  The Great Lion then scooped him up----which was not very comfortable because he was still tender from the process---and tossed him into the pool of cold, clear water.  At first it hurt, but then wonderful relief came from the cleansing liquid...it was an indescribable experience.  Aslan then scooped Eustace back out of the water and dressed him in fresh clean garments. 

The movie sort of skimmed past this wonderful account of how to undress a dragon.  I sometimes feel so "scaly" and rough...my attempts to tear it away and clean myself up always fail...there is always more underneath.  Maybe you can relate?  I am just not equipped to peel away all of the stuff on my own...I need the sharp loving claws of the Lion of Judah (Jesus Christ, our Savior) to get down to the heart of the matter.  I could make many analogies using the story of Eustace the Dragon.  Eustace was blind, selfish, and rude before providence allowed him to walk in the skin of a dragon for a while.  All of us are bound, blind, selfish, and rude without the re-creating power of the water of the Holy Spirit in our lives...when we finally get to the point of surrendering to the Lion...Jesus