3.22 [TEACHING] Gospel of John (wk 18) - 13-17

In this week's teaching from the Gospel of John (chapters 13–17), the speaker at South Bend City Church explores the tension between living with a deeply troubled heart in response to global suffering and the call to remain rooted in peace. Jesus, facing his imminent departure, tells his disciples not to let their hearts be troubled, a directive that challenges the cultural tendency to romanticize distress as a sign of spiritual depth. The speaker reflects personally on how his own privileged upbringing led to a false sense of peace, and how becoming aware of systemic injustice made him value suffering—but warns that making 'troubled hearts' a virtue can prevent true peace from taking root. He argues that it's possible to grieve, rage, and engage with the world’s brokenness while holding a deep, abiding peace at the center of one’s being. This peace is cultivated through practices of presence—like prayer and contemplation—that reconnect us to the love of God already within us. The sermon culminates in a communal Eucharist, framed as a sacramental encounter with the new world being born through Christ’s love and sacrifice. The message concludes with an invitation to baptism as a public declaration of life rooted in divine love and peace, and a vision of the future where suffering is reinterpreted as birth pangs for a new creation.