The Faithless Impala

Hebrews 11:29--12:2

In unsure times, God gives us the assurance of faith.
Jesus is on a holy tear in today’s gospel reading. He is setting the earth on fire, bringing division. This is not the pastoral, good shepherd Jesus. This is a glimpse of a more firm Jesus. This is Jesus on a mission. And he will not be deterred by any of the false securities of this world. He is pursuing the assurance of eternal security for all, and nothing, not even the relationships of family are going to stop him. In the end, this is the Jesus the world desperately needs. This is the Jesus that sacrifices all, goes to the cross, with faith that God will say Yes to him and redeem all of us.

Jesus’ fire is against all those things that we put our trust and faith in ahead of him.
Likewise, the author of Hebrews exhorts his listeners to have faith, persevere and continue to move forward. Do not let the false securities of this world hold you back from accomplishing what God has put before you. Listing all the biblical stories of people who moved forward in faith, Hebrews calls us then to move forward in the presence of this great cloud of witnesses—pursuing not our own goals but God’s.

There’s a bit of animal trivia I want to share with you. How many of you know what an Impala is? It’s a deer-like creature that roams the grassy Serengeti of Africa. It is said that this creature is capable of leaping 10-feet in the air, and bounding 30-feet in distance. It’s amazing what this creature can do. And it needs to do this in order to have any chance of escape from predators like Lions and Tigers.

Well, upon studying this creature it was observed that when being chased by a predator it would be running and bounding through the grass, but when it came to a thick bush or tree, that it could easily have leaped over, it would instead halt its running and try to find a way around it—often to its own demise. Why would this creature, capable of easily bounding over the obstacle before it, choose to go around it and run the risk of being caught by its predator?

With this curious information, a theory surface, and was tested. They built a pen for the Impala that was nothing more than a 3-foot wall. Just high enough that the Impala could not see over it as it approached it. And sure enough, no matter how provoked, the Impala would not leap over this 3-foot wall to freedom. This study revealed something interesting. The Impala, with its great leaping capability, will only leap if it can first see where its feet are going to land.
If the Impala had just a little bit of faith that when it leaped beyond where it could see, it would avoid the predators that devour it so much more often.

How often do we behave like the Impala? How often are we caught; wanting to be sure of the outcome of our actions before we act?

The writer of Hebrews gives us a list of stories that involve tremendous obstacles that were overcome by faith in God. We are not like the Impala, even though we often behave as if we are. No! We have been given the gift of faith. This gift, when used, seperates us from all other creatures and enables us to respond to difficulty, threats, and fear in ways that reveal God's image in place of our own.

With Jesus in the lead of our lives, we are empowered by his faith to remain faithful ourselves. Rather becoming like trapped animals, we are set free. Free to worship God! Free to serve our neighbor joyfully.

In the end, even the giant obstacle of death itself is overcome. Just as Jesus leaped over it on the cross and landed on his feet on the other side. So, we too, are asked to follow. When we face our final obstacle, with faith in Jesus, we will leap right over that wall and land on our feet with Jesus in heaven.

Amen