A springbok is an antelope related to the gazelle family, but not a true gazelle because of one hidden patch of white hair on its back.
That patch of white hair is hidden in a fold of skin on the springbok’s back and can only be seen during pronking, an unusual act of jumping stifflegged with the back bowed.
And now we’re going to discover how the springbok and pronking are related to our previous columns with Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John.
But first you should know the springbok is both the mascot and nickname of the South African national rugby team.
In a racially divided country, Nelson Mandela had spent 27 years in prison for opposing the white apartheid government. Then, in 1995, South Africa was chosen to host the World Cup Rugby Tournament, and their national team was 100 percent white in a country that was 80 perent black at the time.
It did not look good. Then Mandela made a public appearance in a rugby jersey and cap with the Springbok logo on both. He said simply, “These are our boys now. They may be all white, but they’re our boys, and we must get behind them and support them in this tournament.”
That was one side of the problem.
The next day, the Springbok coach took his team to prison where Mandela spent a substantial portion of his life and said, “This is the cell where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. He was kept here for 27 years by the racist policies of our government. We tolerated his imprisonment for all those years, and yet he has backed us publicly. We can’t let him down.”
And they didn’t. They won the World Cup, and for the first time whites and blacks danced together in the streets to celebrate their victory!
The story was depicted in the “The Human Factor,” a movie directed by Clint Eastwood starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. A similar view appears in the Book of Luke.
“And his (John the Baptist’s) father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people. ... Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us.”
— Luke 1: 68-71
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
