The Lesson of Eustace

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

In C.S. Lewis’s Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we are told the story of Eustace. Eustace’s attitude is all wrong. He complains about minor ailments and inconveniences, he shirks the ship’s chore routine, and he threatens to have crew members locked up as soon as they return to England – just for inconveniencing himself! Then one day when the crew set down on an island, Eustace wanders off by himself. He stumbles upon a dragon’s treasure hoard (the dragon has died), gets greedy and puts on a glimmering armband, and falls asleep amid his newfound riches. When Eustace wakes up the next morning he discovers to his horror that he has been transformed into the new dragon. His greed has somehow mixed with the magic of the place and made him into something he never intended. In vain he tries multiple times to shed his dragon skin. But he can only return to his human form when Aslan, the great and magical lion, arrives and removes his dragon hide for him. Throughout the rest of the ship voyage, Eustace is a changed man in every way – helpful, courteous, kind, and compassionate.

What does the story of Eustace have to say for our own spiritual journeys?

Eustace’s story suggests to me that it is not possible for us to encounter God and genuinely to experience His sanctifying presence without discarding our old way of life. For Eustace, putting off that old way of life meant allowing the lion Aslan to tear his dragon hide off of him and to offer him a new, reconciled body. The sanctification process that Eustace illustrates is meaningless unless we experience the death of our desires. What I mean is that if our encounter with God is genuine then our sanctification cannot help but be a funeral for the old self. There simply is no other way. The break is sometimes radical. Sharing in the resurrected life of Jesus Christ is not for the faint of heart. It is a resolute life and it finds its steadfastness in the promises of God.