Out of all the religions in the world, Christianity remains unique in how it regards hierarchy.

By this, I’m not referring to material wealth alone.

At our particular judgement, we will all give an account to God on not only how we used our wealth, but also our time, talents, positions of power, sphere of influence and, most importantly, our love (CCC 1021-1022).

So what does this have to do with the concept of hierarchy?

In Christianity, it is from our hierarchy that our love should flow, because in the economy of salvation, those who have been given much, much will be expected (Luke 12:48).

Socialism and envy

But doesn’t this goes directly against the spirit of our age?

For instance, there are some who want to abolish differences in social and economic classes, and they justify all sorts of crimes to accomplish this.

They argue that it’s even “Christian” to do this because the early Christians (and even Christ and His disciples) shared a common purse.

Of course this seemed to work fine…except one of them would routinely steal from the funds.

The argument in favor of abolishing private ownership for a more “fair” and “equitable” society is faulty, and it’s mainly used in an effort to legitimize the social and economic system of socialism.

One major problematic error in socialism is that it views material goods as ends in themselves, not means to the ultimate end–namely, heaven. Because of this, its entire premise rests on the deadly sin of envy.

In Christianity, belonging to a higher social or economic class simply means you have more to give to God, and more to serve others.

“Neighborliness” vs. Christian charity

Unlike arbiters of the state, Christ did not mean that we should be forced to provide for others while they choose not to provide for themselves. St. Paul made this clear when he said, “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.”

Clearly, this kind of laziness and reliance on others was a problem even in the first century and is a direct contradiction to Christianity, to which St. Paul very clearly put:

“Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you” (2 Thess 3:6-8).

Yet “living in idleness” is encouraged in the sociopolitical arena of socialism.

It’s no more “neighborly” (as a prominent politician put it) for a country’s government to force its citizens to pay for college students’ tuition than it is to allow thieves to steal merchandise from business owners simply because they are from a different social class.

Unlike the oxymoron of “neighborliness” in this context, true Christian charity cannot contradict itself.

What Christ does teach, is that we are responsible for ourselves, our conduct, and caring for the poor without depending on a government agency doing it for us.

And that we have to have ownership of material goods in order to give them away.

Charity, (unlike philanthropic giving in socialism) looks at the individual and his particular needs.

Philanthropy looks at the needs of the collective group without respect to the individual.

Individuals

But that is what we are: individuals–not merely parts of a society. There is a reason why God designed us to be drawn towards individuals and not a crowd.

In fact, we are constantly looking for someone who sticks out of the crowd: loving, hard-working fathers, moral bosses, virtuous friends (i.e. saints), honest mentors, loyal politicians (especially in our leaders) and courageous clerics.

And guess what? People like this exist regardless of their social or economic class–even in royalty!

Hierarchy vs. sameness

The bottom line is we need hierarchy, not “sameness” and mediocrity, because we know there is justice in earning our way based on our own individual merits, talents or just through plain hard work.

Why? Because we need living, breathing examples of what it looks like to develop excellence in any given field. We want to watch the best athletes, and we wonder at great artists who accomplish so much. We marvel at the most gifted musicians and the architects who create such jaw-dropping masterpieces.

Class warfare and justice

But how can I make this claim as class warfare seems to rage all around us?

Can this possibly mean that God gives more intelligence, social skills, talents, tenacity and even levels/types of grace to some more than others?

Yes! How can He do that? Isn’t that cruel? Nope.

In the Parable of the Talents (Mt 25:14-30), Jesus said, “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

The guy who had just one talent made excuses why he didn’t use or multiply it, and the landowner took it and gave it to the guy with ten talents who did. And He didn’t just mean this in the sense of “money” or wealth.

If that’s not enough of a motivator to use our gifts, time, intelligence, skills, resources and money more wisely I don’t know what is!

Though we are all different, God leaves us free to choose how to serve without coercion or compulsion.

Hierarchy “…on earth as it is in heaven.”

That is the genius of Christianity: we have a duty to ask for the grace to become like God by serving others, and no matter how impoverished or high-class we are, none of us is exempt.

This is most brilliantly illustrated in the hierarchy of the nine angelic choirs where the Seraphim–the highest choir and the closest in proximity to God–serve the lowest choirs (angels, archangels, principalities, etc.) by offering them their prayers and assistance.

And yet this must be so, because there is no envy in heaven. Christ said, “The greatest among you must be your servant” (Mt 23:11).

God allows the angels to participate in His saving power by serving their fellow angelic spirits out of love.

This is also evident in the total rejection of service when the once-highest, most powerful and beautiful Seraphim angel, Lucifer (which means “light-bearer”), said in his pride, “I will not serve.”

In His fall from grace, Satan is no longer able to illuminate, but instead wages war on God by darkening our intellects, confusing us and enslaving us to sin.

Family

In Christianity, we don’t regard others as our opponents; we view them as brothers and sisters–made by God in His divine image–and therefore, part of our family.

That is why we can look at others and marvel at the power of God, and how He works through them to bring more people to Himself.

God wants us to be our “brothers keeper” by upholding the truth, admonishing in charity, instructing the ignorant, and praying for those who do evil so they will turn away from it.

So whether we’re rich or poor, man or woman, married or single, let us offer our daily work and entire lives to God as one big act of service–that one day we, too, will be considered one of the greatest in God’s heavenly kingdom.