Hierarchies & Jesus: Behavioral Science & The Gospel of Matthew

Humans have an innate sense for detecting where they stand in the hierarchical structure of social groups. As social creatures, hierarchical structures are inevitable. From the family, to the military, school and even church- every where there are human communities, there are social status competitions and delineated pecking orders. 

In Matthew's Gospel in particular, Jesus is presented as an authoritative figure, perhaps even one with the authority to knock out the "alpha" at the top of the hierarchy of the 1st Century Mediterranean & Near Eastern world, but as Matthew's portrait of Jesus unfolds it becomes clear that Jesus' Lordship completely subverts our expectations of normal hierarchical ordering.

Does Jesus completely eliminate hierarchy or does he re-order its functioning?

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