a sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter
In 1993, a young man was murdered in Minneapolis.* His killer was a 16 year old gang member named Oshea Israel. A few years ago, he was released and now lives in the same neighborhood he grew up in, right next door to Mary Johnson, the mother of the man he killed.
How a convicted murderer ended up living right next door to his victim’s mother is what today’s Epistle reading from the 1st Letter of John is all about:
* Note: The idea for this sermon illustration came from the Rev. Shari Rates on Day1.org. You can read her sermon here. The CBS News reported the story of Mary Johnson and Oshea Israel on June 7, 2011. You can read that news article here.