November 22, 1963. The 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas as he waved from his limousine in the motorcade travelling down the streets. It was 12:30 p.m. when the shots rang out from the rifle of Lee Havey Oswald.
“In an interview with “Frontline,” investigative journalist Gerald Posner said Oswald’s hatred wasn’t for Kennedy. “What he did hate was the system and what Kennedy stood for,” Posner tells the PBS show. “He despised America. He despised capitalism. When he eventually had the opportunity to strike against Kennedy, it was that symbol of the system that he was going after.”1
Oswald had received an early honorable discharge from the Marines. After his release, he defected to the Soviet Union. Though denied citizenship, he was allowed to stay for 2-1/2 years. Upon learning of his defection, the Marines downgraded his discharge from honorable to undesirable.
At 2:38 p.m., November 22, Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th president of the United States. In a statement, he simply said, “This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help—and God’s.”2
The next day, Johnson would declare November 25, 1963, to be a day of national mourning. This was the day Kennedy was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. “A horse-drawn caisson carried Kennedy’s flag-draped coffin to St. Matthew’s Catholic Cathedral from the Capitol Rotunda. More than 800,000 people lined Pennsylvania Avenue to watch the procession, according to the Washington Post.
“The president’s caisson was drawn by four horses, including the riderless horse named Black Jack, a ‘magnificent black gelding,’ according to the JFK Library, which carried an empty saddle and saber,” the newspaper reported. “Boots were reversed in the stirrups. ‘The riderless horse,’ the JFK Library explained, ‘is one of the highest military honors bestowed upon the fallen.’ ”3
One of the most heartbreaking and endearing pictures is that of 3-year-old John-John saluting his dad’s casket. This was the day of John-John’s third birthday.
A nation mourns when their leader has fallen, especially when they are so heinously assassinated. Politics and personal feelings aside, the nation grieved. The same was true for Israel.
“So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. (6) And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. (7) And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. (8) And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.” (Deuteronomy 34:5-8)
Many of those who mourned were the same people that had caused Moses so much grief and heartache. They weren’t a part of his fan club! But upon his death, they realized that he had been God’s man for the hour and had done great things to prepare them for the Canaan Land.
We know full well that man doesn’t live forever. We all have an expiration date known only to God. However, we can take comfort and courage from the fact that God always has someone ready to lead – whether that’s leading the nation, our state, our city, or even our church.
There is a time to mourn. But then it’s time to get back to work and get on with living and doing. Remember these words found in Ecclesiastes and let them remind us about the passages of life. Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 says, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: (2) A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; (3) A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; (4) A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…”
1https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/jfk-assassination
2Ibid.
3Ibid.
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