Sermon // The House that Jesus Builds – Over due and over budget // Matthew 16:21-23
Building projects tend to take on a life of their own. A good rule of thumb is that whatever the time and cost estimate is…you should double it.
In fact, it is a law: Hofstadter’s law.
Douglas Hofstadter is a cognitive scientist who has shown, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that no matter how much time you plan for a project, it will always take longer than you expect, even when you factor in Hofstadter’s law.
For example, you will not believe how much longer and over-budget the building of the famed Sydney Opera House turned out to be. (You will have to come today to find out…or, you can Google it…)
In our passage today (Matthew 16:21-23), no sooner has Jesus announced his great building project, than the temptation comes to alter the plans.
Jesus announces his plans, and Peter wants to change them.
Here we see one of the biggest threats to Jesus’ building project. Peter’s mind is set on the ways of man and not God. Peter’s plans are not Jesus’ plans.
Peter knows the right word: Christ…but he pours the wrong meaning into the word. Peter’s definition of Christ has no place for suffering, or rejection, or crucifixion.