Aslan and Eustace
Submitted by Forgiven on January 6 2002 12:31:26
In reply to A Study of Boys in Scripture submitted by J on January 6 2002 07:24:32
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The human skin is damaged by exposure to the sun, with the result that in older people skin that has been most protected is the most soft, and that which has been exposed is damaged and hard. In the same way the impact of sin is to harden the heart, whereas the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring radical change (cf Ezekiel's heart of flesh prophecy cpt 36 v 26). This is beautifully expressed in analogy form in the middle of CS Lewis' Dawn Treader story, one of the Narnia books. In that a boy has been turned into a dragon, and after a period when he comes to realise the mess that he's made of his life, is led by Aslan, the Jesus figure, to a secret pool. There Aslan tells him to undress; so as a dragon has no clothes, he tries to tear off his skin. He succeeds to a limited extent, but then finds that the hard skin has grown back. In the end he has to ask Aslan to tear off the skin - after which he is thrown into the pool and emerges as a boy again. Thanks for the study! |
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