There is no hierarchy in the kingdom of Heaven
Luke 10:29 – 37
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael Harvey Koplitz
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he
was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went
away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road,
and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when
he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan,
as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on
him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then
he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.
35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look
after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense
you may have.' 36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man
who fell into the hands of robbers?" 37 The expert in the law replied, "The one
who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
In chapter 10 of Luke’s gospel, starting on the 29th verse and going to the 37th verse,
we have that famous story about the good Samaritan. The narrative is actually a
parable that was offered by Jesus as a response to the question of “who is my
neighbor.” I am sure that everyone listening or reading this message knows something
about the parable. Even as a non-Christian, I knew about the story of the good
Samaritan. Therefore, I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about what the
Samaritan did for the man that he found on the side of the road. You have heard that
probably hundreds of times. But did you also know there’s another idea of Jesus
hiding in the parable that is missed by not only pastors but Christian biblical scholars?
One of the resources that I used in Biblical research is a commentary titled “Aramaic
Light.” This commentary series is based on the idea that the New Testament was
originally written in Aramaic. The authors, who are Rocco Errico and George Lamsa,
not only spoke about the Aramaic version of the New Testament and the meaning of
those words but also included the culture of the day.
So, I want to share with you an observation that is made by them that no one ever
talked about. That subject is that there is no hierarchy inside the kingdom of heaven
like we have in the world.
All organizations of humans maintain a hierarchical system of the people, with
invisible social and mental boundaries. For the Jews of Jesus’ day, the order was:
priest, Levite, Israelite, proselyte, and freed slave. The parable has the first three main
characters, but not in the correct order. Yeshua speaks of the Israelite, the priest, and
then the Levite. That would immediately catch the ear of the listener. Furthermore,
Yeshua introduces a Gentile into the parable. By doing this, Yeshua is trying to break
down the hierarchical system of importance to tell the listeners that in the Kingdom
of God, there is no hierarchy.
If you didn’t know about the culture of Judea at the time, you would easily miss this.
I will confess that I did not catch it until I saw it brought out by these Aramaic
scholars. Even my seminary New Testament professor did not catch this. It is not in
the Christian commentaries, so it’s understandable why it was missed. However, it is
an incredibly amazing point that Jesus put into this parable.
One of the things you need to look for in parables is the twist in the culture that
should make you think twice about what’s going on. Once you realize that the order
was reversed or slightly adjusted in this case, you will look deeper into the meaning of
the parable. Parables have multiple meanings, and that is the beauty of Jesus parables.
Very few rabbis could create parables that were so beautifully done with multiple
meanings.
There is no hierarchy in heaven. That means, nobody is of a higher rank than anyone
else. That made me wonder if Jesus would be upset that the church that created in his
name definitely has a hierarchy. Not only hierarchy in the clergy but hierarchy in the
congregation and the members of the church. It is also interesting to me that when
St. Paul created these churches, he only spoke of an overseer who is helped the people
learn what Christianity was according to Paul and follow the ways of Jesus. It makes
perfect sense that someone has to be the leader. That’s just the way it is. However,
the church evolved into a gigantic hierarchy.
We know historically that part of the creation of the hierarchy was so that the church
could look at Rome and say hey, we look like you. Stop persecuting us! Of course,
that didn’t work, so we are stock with hierarchy. The Catholic Church is a prime
example of hierarchy and if you think about the different levels of hierarchy you will
start to see the Roman Empire hierarchy. Just with the clergy, you start with the simple
priest and then how many levels does it take to get to the pope. I’m always concerned
when I think about the different levels that I’m going to miss out on one. There are a
lot. I think it’s six levels, but it may be more. And of course, the Catholic Church has
many bishops, archbishops, and cardinals in it.
The Protestant churches did away with a lot of that hierarchy but still left something
behind. Bishops exist in all the church hierarchies that I’m aware of, except for the
independent churches. Since these churches don’t report to anyone, they don’t need
to have a clergy hierarchy.
Don’t think that the laity is not subject to hierarchy, because it is. Every church has
what I will call an underground hierarchy system of who is in charge and who do we
listen to. The power of the underground hierarchy can be forceful, and if the pastor
cannot figure out the hierarchy quickly, he or she will succumb to the it.
That’s just the way it is. As I said, in human organizations, hierarchies are always going
to develop. People like to boss other people around, even in church. I know that
sounds crazy, but it’s true. A man named Max DuPree wrote a fabulous set of
leadership books back in the 1990s. DuPree was the CEO of Herman Miller company,
which created high luxury office furniture for CEOs and other executives. He talked
about the roaming leader in his first book on leadership. That is the person who has
the true leadership and control in this case of the church. In small family size churches
we call them the matriarch or patriarch, sometimes it’s a married couple, sometimes
it’s not, who may not be on any committee but everyone’s going to look to see how
they react to something new.
Even when the church grows, the consultants will tell you that the hierarchy of the
matriarch patriarch disappears, but that is not the truth. It’s always there hidden in
some other form. So, the job of a pastor is to try to figure out what that hierarchy is
because that’s the people you want on your side.
How about the rest of us that are just in the congregation? For those who just come
to church, they sit in a pew for one hour on Sunday, aren't usually concerned about
such things. However, if you are a person who wants to work for Jesus Christ through
your church and do good not only for your congregation but for the world around
you, you have to figure out the hierarchy. Look for the person who is not in a position
of power, but everybody listens to. Once you find that person, you have found the
root of the hierarchy. Get that person on your side if you want to introduce some new
mission or some other work that the church you feel should be doing.
By finding the true roaming leader, you will find that it’s easy to help steer your church
to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Bear in mind, they’re going to be people who are
talking to this roaming leader about improving things inside the church because
they’re not concerned about outside the church. We really need to be concerned
outside the church. That’s another one of those little, subtle messages that Jesus gives
us in this parable. Consider for a moment that the Samaritan is a person who is a
follower of Christ. Now consider the person hurt on the roadside, one who does not
know Christ.
The follower of Christ helps the non-follower of Christ. By offering Christ’s love to
that person, you have the opportunity to introduce the full breath of Jesus to them.
The next time you see someone who needs help, call out and help them and let them
know that you’re helping them through the love of Christ and that the love of Christ
is available to them even though they don’t know it.
Be like the Samaritan who helped the Jew who was considered an enemy. There are
no enemies in the kingdom of heaven, as well as there is no hierarchy in the kingdom
of heaven. Perhaps the statement “keep it simple” applies to Heaven and should apply
on Earth.
