Yes, crushes. When I was a young child I had a terrible crush on Prince Caspian. He was all the more dashing in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and I was awfully upset when he snagged a wife by the end of the book. My only concelation was that the discription of this wife (if one imagined hard enough) could be said to match mine. But I'm old and married now, and when I read the books after having met my husband, his face had replaced Caspian's. Sigh...
Sappy, I know. Besides the charming prince Caspian, there's another character in The Chronicles who is undisputably one of the most endearing: Reepicheep the Mouse. He has one motivation: to advance his and his company's honor. In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we hear this outcry when the party considers leaving a nearby island unexplored.
"Do we go into this?" asked Caspian at length.
"Not by my advice," said Drinian.
"The Captain's right," said several sailors.
"I almost think he is," said Edmund.
Lucy and Eustace didn't speak but they felt very glad inside at the turn things seemed to be taking. But all at once the clear voice of Reepicheep broke in upon the silence.
"And why not?" he said. "Will someone explain to me why not."
No one was anxious to explain, so Reepicheep continued: "If I were addressing peasants or slaves," he said, "I might suppose this suggestion proceeded from cowardice. But I hope that it will never be told in Narnia that a company of noble and royal persons in the flower of their age turned tail because they were afraid of the dark."
"But what manner of use would it be plowing through that blackness?" asked Drinian.
"Use?" replied Reepicheep. "Use, Captain? If by use you mean filling our bellies or our purses, I confess it will be no use at all. So far as I know we did not set sail to look for things useful, but seek honor and adventure. And here is as great an adventure as I ever heard of, and here, if we turn back, no little impeachment of all our honors."
He's as valiant and as might as a 2 foot creature can be - a wonder I ever fell for the prince over this fellow.
This isn't his only outcry against dishonor. He's ready to fight a dual at any second to preserve his honor (or that of a lady). He jumps overboard at one point when a merman brandishes a spear at him, taking it as a direct challenge to his honor. He's the first to eat suspect enchanted food because not to would be against his honor. In the book Prince Caspian, Reepicheep fights valiantly in a battle to regain Caspian's kingship over Narnia, and ends up having his tail sliced off. When he's brought before Aslan, he explains that a mouse's honor is his tail. Aslan then asks a very poiniant question:
"I wonder, little one, if you do not think too greatly of your honor."
Boy can I relate. How many times do I find myself becoming overconsumed with my honor? How often do I take action to defend my honor in the eyes of others? How often is my motivation to advance my honor? The bible would call this something else: pride.
What would scripture say about that? "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." --Phil 2:3-4
We're not called to have a self focus. We're called to have an others focus. So when I'm challenged or wronged, my motivation should never be to see that I'm "never treated this way again". I should never approach a situation with the motivation of "getting what I deserve". I should rest in knowing that God sees that I've been wronged. But that wrong against me has brought me no dishonor before God, unless I respond in a dishonorable way. If I say in my heart "I must defend my honor", and respond to the wrong-doer with an intent to put them in their place, then I've dishonored myself.
We're called to treat all people with the same love that God shows us - but not because we deserve to be treated well. The gospel is clear about what we deserve - the wrath of a holy God against our sin. That's what we deserve. We deserve far worse treatment than we recieve from even our worst enemies. We're called to treat all people with the same love God shows us - but that doesn't mean everyone will do it all the time. So when they don't, are we excused from showing them God's love? Nope. We're called to treat all people with the same love God does because those actiong bring glory to God. Were called to be concerned about God's glory, not ours.
Endearing though the little guy is, I don't think Reepicheep ever learned this lesson. But I sure hope I can.
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