day 2270: Understanding Hierarchies

“Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt respectfully to ask a favor.”

Hierarchies are a part of everything around us. They exist in businesses, organizations, schools, government, and yes, even in churches. What is interesting is that some people almost innately find comfort in a hierarchy and others just never can find their way.  The ones who don’t understand how a hierarchy works will find themselves on the outside of how things work and get done.  However, these could be VERY talented people who just need to not be placed where they have to maneuver through the organization.  They can be very valuable as individual contributors who aren’t pressured with who says what, when or how.  The rest of us though?  We might want to spend a little more time with those who seem able to see into the hierarchy and are able to make sense of it all.

The Mother of the disciples James and John understood the power of a hierarchy as she asked if Jesus would place her sons at the right and left hands of the Father?  Jesus had to remind her and the rest of us that it doesn’t work that way.  He told His Disciples: “But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.”  And it is the same for us today.  We are to lead by being servants first.  It is in this way of conducting ourselves that we are fitting into God’s hierarchy.

Reference: Matthew 20: 21 (New Living Translation)