THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER (2010)  Movie Review

Consumed by Sin

C.S. Lewis’ Voyage of the Dawn Treader is about the reformation of a troublesome child with no friends, Eustace. He is consumed by laziness, greed, and selfishness. When he visits the land of Narnia with Edmund and Lucy he immediately causes trouble aboard the ship. He skips out on work in order to play, and he steals. His actions eventually lead him down a path of self-destruction and turn him into a dragon.

As Christians, we are often led astray from the path that God wants us to follow due to our sins. Our sins (e.g. sloth and greed) turn us into something less human and less godly like the dragon.

Isaiah 53:6: All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

Jeremiah 7:24: “But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward.

Repentant Soul

When Eustace wakes as a dragon, he becomes afraid and downtrodden. He tries acts of repentance to make up for his sins. He helps build the camps and defends the ship. However, he finds he is more in the way than helpful. Worst of all nobody knows how to help him. So, he sinks into a sense of hopelessness. Like Eustace many sinners lose hope and attempt to repent through good deeds, but those good deeds don’t bring salvation.

Ephesians 2:9: Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

1 Peter 2:25: Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.

Baptism

Late at night when he was in a state of repentance Aslan comes to Eustace when he was in a state of repentance. The lion leads the dragon to a well, peels the scales off of Eustace, and throws him into the well. The water cleanses his bod just as baptism cleans the sins from our souls. He emerges as a changed person and finds forgiveness.

Acts 2:38: Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Calling

Lewis explains in end of the book, “You’d never know [Eustace] for the same boy.”

Eustace endures this experience in order to prepare him for his return to Narnia, in which he has a great mission ahead of him. Aslan will charge him with a message as Christ charged the disciples with the Great Commission.

Mark 16:15: And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

Matthew 28:18-20: Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”