Today’s Scripture Reading (July 20, 2017):
Zechariah 5
On October 24, 1963, UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson
II made his way to Dallas, Texas to celebrate “UN Day.” But outside Dallas
Memorial Auditorium, protesters bar his entrance into the building. With
security all around him, Stevenson pauses to try to speak to the protestors,
but the protestors refuse to listen to the Ambassador, increasing their noise
to drown out the voice of the ambassador. Inside the auditorium, Stevenson
attempts to give a prepared speech, but once again gets shouted down by
protestors. One man screams that “Kennedy (meaning President John F. Kennedy)
will get his reward in hell and Stevenson is going to die.” After the speech,
and after several supporters gave messages of apology insisting to the UN
Ambassador that most of the citizens of Dallas did not share the opinions of
the protestors, police once again surround Stevenson to try to move him out of
the building. But once again the Ambassador
is surrounded by protestors. One woman is screaming at Stevenson, and Stevenson
runs out from his police protection to
try to have a conversation with her. The
woman turns and instead of speaking with the Ambassador hits him over the head
with her protest sign.
Back in Washington, Adlai Stevenson warns Kennedy speechwriter
Arthur Schlesinger that President Kennedy should not go to Texas, or at the
minimum he should avoid the Dallas area. “There
was something very ugly and frightening
about the atmosphere,” Stephenson told Schlesinger. The warning was never given to President Kennedy, and even
if the message had been passed on, it is doubtful that John F. Kennedy would
have chosen to skip his visit to Dallas.
The vision of the woman in the basket
was a warning that God was giving to Zechariah. The time had come for all of
Israel to return home. Evil was coming to Babylon (actually called Shinar by
the prophet, indicating that this was after the final disassembling of the
mighty Babylonian Empire, and it would be
enthroned, and evil would make its home in the city. If the people of
Judah wanted to escape the evil that was to come, that could only be accomplished if they left the area and came
back home. The time had come, and there
was no time left to waste. But the choice was theirs. The people could leave or
stay, but if they remained, they would be
no match for the evil that was about to be released on the city.
Warnings are strange things. Often we
are left wondering if things will really
be as bad as those who warn us think that
it will be. Maybe we can be the difference that is needed when the time of
trial comes. Of course, then there is the thought – what if the prophet is
wrong and I miss a significant opportunity out of fear? Courage and the need to
look sharp often make us bluster through
the moments of warning. Some of the exiles would hear the warning of Zechariah;
more would ignore it and stay in the place where they had built their
lives. For most, Babylon or Shinar was the only real home that they had ever
known.
President John F. Kennedy went to
Dallas and was assassinated on November
22, 1963 – less than a month after Adlai Stevenson’s visit to the city. Stevenson
was right, Dallas should have been crossed off the President’s itinerary. But
in the end, Stevenson’s message of Dallas was just another warning that was ignored.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Zechariah 6
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