Hierarchy am I
f you ask Americans to give an example of a hierarchical relationship, most of them will say either master and slave or boss and employee. If you ask them if hierarchy is good and leads to intimacy and trust, most of them will say no.They will say that it is built upon power and is always subject to abuse. But if you ask Japanese the same questions, the answers are different. Most Japanese will give mother and child as the ready example of hierarchy. If you ask them to name a cool and distant relationship, or relationships that are most prone to abuse, they will say friends.
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The typical American view is that intimacy can only come between equals when neither partner has power or owes the other anything. But the typical Japanese view is that if you are equal, then you do not know your place or duties and are competitors with one another.They see hierarchy as giving structure and security that creates an environment of trust and love.The Japanese view is not far from the Kingdom of God. Consider the idea of mother and child as hierarchy. Hardly any relationship could have more unbalanced power.The child has no power, no say in decisions or plans. He is told when to go to bed, when to get up, what to eat, what to wear, and so forth.The mother addresses the child by his given name or even nicknames, but the child always uses a title for his mother. Her word is law.Yet the mother and child are completely intimate.They know what to expect from each other, what their roles are. Unless we are talking about very sick individuals, the child is not oppressed by the hierarchy. Instead, he is comforted by it. The Scriptures clearly establish a hierarchy in creation.The Lord is the Ruler of the universe, and
His Word is Law. Adam and Eve and their descendants were given dominion over the earth. Adam was placed over Eve. Eve was placed over her children.Yet this is not meant by God for oppression or power but for order. So also there is a kind of hierarchy even in the Godhead. For the three Persons of the Holy Trinity are not interchangeable, but are revealed to us as relating to one another. God the Father is not begotten or proceeding. God the Son is begotten of the Father from eternity but does not proceed. God the Spirit is not begotten but proceeds from the Father and the Son.Yet these three persons are equal in that they are all three divine, eternal, and omniscient.“In this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another� (Athanasian Creed 24). Hierarchy in the Trinity does not mean subordination but reciprocity. There is but one God, not three gods in competition with one another.There is but one God yet He is three Persons who stand in relation to one another. Human relationships are designed by God to be reciprocal as well. Mothers and children are human, equal in dignity and rights. Mothers do not rule their children for the sake of power but in service and love, and mothers find their identity and purpose in that service. Children are not less than their mothers but they live and serve in a different role. The hierarchical order of creation was not undone by the fall, but it was twisted and infected. Nor was it undone by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; it was restored. When St. Paul writes that there is neither male nor female in Christ, He does not mean that in heaven we will be sexless beings apart from the original order. He simply means that Christ is no respecter of persons, and there is no benefit or
