Rev. Reese's 'The Homily'

The homily written by Rev. William J. Reese was preached in Minnesota in April of 2012. It is based off of the passage John 3:16. “God so loved the world that he gave his only son begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This homily focuses on many aspects, however, the most important messages being God’s never ending love and the importance of continuous faith/belief. Living an eternal life with God is the end result after receiving His grace. An important aspect of this of this homily is that God loves everyone always. He never loves more or less, but his love is constant. It does not matter what sins were committed He still loves the person and grants them his forgiveness. “…God loves the sinner, not the sin. I would add he loves the criminal, but not the crime. He loves the rebel, but not the rebellion. He loves the terrorist, but not the terror. He loves the adulterer, but not the adultery. He loves the Sabbath breaker, but not the Sabbath breaking.” No matter what is done to deserve or not deserve His forgiveness, it is given anyway. His love does not have to …show more content…
Reese used metaphors and stories to relate the content of the homily to the chapter. The story about the children from an unsafe neighborhood who just needed love to find their way proves that love is important to everyone. The story of the Arabic man who killed someone and sought out protection from the father of the man he killed. When the father found out what the man had done, he chose to adopt him and make him his heir. Another story about an old man on his death bed met with a preacher who told him that God loved him even though he was not a follower. Metaphors were also used to help reiterate the aspects of the chapter. Being adopted into a family is like becoming one of God’s own children. The methods used reiterate the importance of faith and the continuous love from