Two Arrivals: Dallas and Jerusalem – Greg Albrecht

Please follow and like us:

On November 22, 1963,President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through downtown Dallas, Texas. JFK was preparing for the next presidential election, for his second term, in the fall of 1964. In his presidential visit to Texas, JFK stopped in San Antonio, Houston, and finally, Fort Worth-Dallas.

After being greeted by the crowd at Love Field, in Dallas, President and Mrs. Kennedy walked to a waiting Lincoln limousine. The plastic bubble on top had been removed, making the limousine open, easier for the President to see the crowds and be seen by them. They were joined in the Lincoln by Texas Governor John Connelly and his wife—Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his wife, native Texans, occupied another car in the motorcade.

The procession left the airport and started on a ten-mile route through downtown Dallas on the way to the Trade Mart, where the President was scheduled to speak at a luncheon. He never arrived.

In a similar and yet not so similar scene many years before Jesus entered Jerusalem to shouts of praise—a triumphal entry on Palm Sunday as it has come to be called.

Jesus was a compassionate prophet and teacher. He gave new life, encouragement and justice—he was the champion of the poor, the oppressed and the sick and diseased. They loved Jesus. They saw and felt his love. They hoped he would overthrow the occupation armies of Rome and free them from all its tyranny, from their humiliation and poverty.

It seemed like this triumphal entry would lead to great things. The crowds did not realize that the triumphal entry was overshadowed by the cross, the instrument of torture and death.

The crowds cheering President Kennedy and his entourage didn’t realize it, but the President of the United States, elected in a democratic presidential election, seemingly welcomed by a festive crowd in Dallas, was about to be shot and killed.

This young President was seen as an advocate for the poor and oppressed, who challenged Americans to ask not what their country could do for them but what they could do for their country.

Everything looked fine on that beautiful day in November as the President’s motorcade turned toward the book depository in which assassin Lee Harvey Oswald waited in a pre-meditated fatal ambush. Dallas was alive with excitement as the motorcade turned toward that infamous book depository, as a rifle slipped out of a window, and soon Lee Harvey Oswald had President John F. Kennedy in his sights.

Jerusalem was alive with excitement when Jesus came into town. He wasn’t necessarily the center of attention—it was Passover time and people from far and wide crowded the city. Jesus rode a donkey, not a luxurious Lincoln convertible, and he had no Secret Service protecting him. The crowds welcomed him, hoping he could be their champion. They wanted a winner, not a loser, which in a few days is exactly what Jesus turned out to be, in their eyes. In a few days, many who had enthusiastically welcomed Jesus realized he was not the champion they wanted, and they encouraged Pilate to “crucify him.”

The crowds wanted physical deliverance, rescue and salvation. They wanted a powerful leader who would vanquish their oppressors. But Jesus was the Lamb of God coming to Jerusalem to do, once and for all, what no human or no religion or no government could ever do. Reconcile, forgive and give eternal life.

In his first few days of that week, in what many now call Passion Week, Jesus was outraged by the oppression and injustice, the rank materialism and greed that had overtaken faith, and his actions and teachings, in turn, outraged the religious authorities and pushed them to the brink.

During his last few days on earth in Jerusalem, Jesus boldly told the people that religious legalism, under any name, regardless of its constituent parts, was bondage. He compared the religious oppression of his day to being hypocritical, putting on a good show, like shining the outside of a coffee cup, only to leave the inside uncleansed.

The religious leaders realized Jesus had to be stopped, and they conspired with the Roman military leaders to arrest Jesus and charge him unjustly. Judas, the treasurer, with his belt stuffed with silver coins as his payment for betrayal, identified Jesus as the one the religious authorities wanted to have killed.

They mocked Jesus. They humiliated him. They tortured him. They made him carry the very instrument of his death to the place where they would drive spikes through his body and impale him on his cross. It was a prolonged, violent outpouring of rage on the part of humans—those who were present and those who were not—toward God, who is love.

Click here to continue:

If you have found this article helpful, please consider subscribing (free). And if you’d like to help us help others, please consider sharing it with others and hitting the “GIVING” button at the top of the page.