It is interesting fact of Jesus’ life that He not only came to preach the good news of the kingdom to set the captives free but He also came to heal our sickness of hearts and body. Luke Presented Christ as great healer.Since he was a doctor, the Lord used him in his capacities.
The gospel preached by Christ must heal our social system too. It is the power of God to transform not only human being but the entire aspects related to them. The whole system which is influenced by the sin must be healed by God’s power. And Gospel must confront every evil practice in our life, home and society. Caste system is one of the major aspects of sinful humanity.
I read recently from one author, “caste has to be there and we need to accept it as the feature of Indian society.” My question to the author is, how about those people’s feeling, who have been ‘killed’ physically, spiritually and socially by this ‘feature’ of society? If Christ can not unite people and bring together under one roof then the sacrificial death of Christ has no meaning, ‘for He died to make us not only reconciled to God but to man to man too.
If you want caste churches to be continued then it means, you are saying, “Let the people be superior and inferior and let them treat each other as they had been doing for generations.” You also saying, “let people continue to treat the image of God ‘as lower’.” What it implies actually, it makes fun of the Creator, who created each one perfectly and declared them to be equally good. Caste Churches don’t follow the gospel but it is the perverted interpretation of the word of God.
The caste based Churches also are a symbol of mixed philosophies. They don’t follow the only way to heaven. They don’t follow the only one who has the Words of life. They compromise God and the idols. The caste based Churches continue to propagate that the Manu and others are right. The Brahma is right, who divided people from their very existence. It is a lie that is perpetuated by the so called Christians, who treat their own brothers as untouchables and make their lives bitter. I wonder! if they will be permitted to enter heaven, for heaven will not tolerate any discrimination. Thank God, Jesus says, I will be with my people, I will be their God, the liars will not be part of that celebration. The racist and the discriminating people will not be there for the presence of God gathers all kind of people and not just any special people or race.
If you think, Indian society can not be caste free society; then, you don’t really have faith in the God, who made this world out of nothing. And ultimately you are implying that your God is not the God of impossible anymore. Remember, He is the one who made Mephiboseth sit on the table of the king. Remember, He is the one who sat with the ‘sinners’ of the society. Remember He said, I live with the person of humble spirit. Remember, Jesus chose disciples from Fisherman, tax collectors, and educated like Paul, Who humbled himself like his Lord, became Paul from Saul.
Remember, it was God in Christ, who broke the curtain between the holy of holy. Remember, Christ walked in a Samaritan village, two thousand years ago, for the first time. He made impossible possible in His earthly ministry.
If you think caste Church is God’s plan then it is useless to believe “God honors all” communities. Because the moment you say, caste Church is God’s plan then you are also implying that some people are lower than others and they can not get the special privileges like being Children of the same Father God.
It also implies that God as a Father does not treat his Children equally. He wants them to be divided and to be higher and lower in one family. But this is cruel joke with the Gospel of Christ, who came to restore us in the image of God, with which we no longer see anyone as mere human. It shows that our minds have not yet been renewed by the Holy Spirit and true repentance still needed.
Jesus came to make us new and renew in our mind, heart and daily conduct. If the Christian life does not reflect, the renewal of mind, heart, and daily conduct then, it is useless to say, “so and so is a Christian (Follower of Christ)”, Because Christian means, a follower of Christ and His teachings. Christ message must be reflected in the daily life and must be seen by the people. Christian life is compared to a city on the hill and a candle on the lamp stand which can be noticed by anyone. And ultimately can not be hidden. If the Christian life continue to do what ‘unbelivers’ do then this short of Christians still in darkness and they have not yet seen the Light of the World.
For every society, country, and man, Christ message has to be relevant. The Gospel must penetrate in the inner parts and must transform the inner man, society, and nation. Wherever the Gospel will go, it will confront the local corrupt system and the false values. It will make people uneasy and uncomfortable but it does not matter for Gospel must transform each part of our culture, society and daily life which is contrary to God’s word.
The Gospel must make us see things as Christ would do if He were to visit our life, society and culture. We must ask a question, if Christ were to visit us today, where do you think, he would go first, don’t you think, He identified with the weaker sections of society? Don’t you think that as for Christ there is no difference for any Church gatherings, as they all meet in His name? But it is sad if we make Church higher and lower. Some people false idea is, Christ will visit them first, for they belong to the higher specy of Christianity. It is nonesense.
If people sitting in the church building still think they are better than other followers of Christ, then I would say they have not understood the message of Christ. ‘They need to examine whether they are in faith or not?’, Because the Bible ask us to “consider other better than yourself.” Their thoughts show they are still in their sinfulness and need to repent before God and his people in the light of God’s word.
God made this world one, although divided by physical and cultural boundaries but for God they matter not. He is still the owner of all. And He is the only One Master of all. His mastership must exceed all the human mastership. All the human rules must reflect his nature and thinking. God no where felt ashamed of his true people. He does not feel to be ashamed of their God and king. Shouldn’t this be the standard of His people too? Should we fear, what others will say, if we fellowship with the new believers from oppressed society? Certainly not, for the praise and appauluse will be mere human but If we obey God, our appreciations will be great value.
When we preach Christ crucified then we are spreading the good news of liberation, the liberation not just from sinfulness of heart but the liberation of total human being. The Gospel must enter and the tiny and isolated thoughts. We can not keep some rooms closed to Christ. He must come in each room of our house, life and society. He must see all dirty and nice one. We have to allow Christ not only to our drawing room but to our toilet, kitchen and the bedroom. He must see all the filthiness in our home and transform it. Unless we allow Christ’s presence in all of the rooms of our life, we can not call him Lord of our life, He must be allowed to reach and touch every aspect of life. The people, who want to propagate caste in the Church, are such who limit Christ only to their guest rooms. They are liars, who become blocks for many seekers. Jesus has to come in the house as a Liberator He must set things free which are bounded by sin and false philosophies.
The gospel of Christ must be superior in all the matters and practices. We can not please everyone. Our first and foremost goal is to please our God. We can not mess it with false ideas anything which is inferior and taken from another sources. After all, our pleasing someone (a section of society) will not bring him/them to Christ; it will only serve for a time. We must make God our exclusive standard. Let all the philosophies of the world be inferior to His Word, the supreme authority.
The concept like one people, one baptism, one bowl, One Lord, only Savior and One way, one Master say a lot to the oneness of Christianity. Paul rebuked Corinthians on the point of schism in the Church. If you call yourself of Paul and Apollo’s or of Peter, Is Christ divided? The divisions especially which implies hatred and discrimination can not be part of the kingdom of God. The intention of Christ’s coming was to unite people with God and with man to man.
Any motives which divide people, doesn’t matter, even if it is to plant Churches or to spread the gospel, is contrary to God’s word. And it has no place in the light of God’s Word. The Lord hates those who divide his people on the pretext of false philosophies. The caste system must be uprooted in the light of God’s word and the Christian missionaries must think to do away this sinful practice. The message of Christ must confront it and must purge it from the hearts and minds of the people so that all people, as one, may enjoy God’s presence and continue to worship HIM as their Lord while staying together.
What is Christian’s duty today? Is it by pleasing some people (the so called high caste) to make the church of God grow? No, certainly not. Can pleasing majority will make the Church grow or win people for Christ? No, Gospel is God's standard, it can not be compromised to please some. On the contrary the people of our country must humble themselves before the God of Heaven and His message. The people must follow the rules of the King. Jesus is king of the kings, and we must follow His guidelines in all the ways of life. People can not make their outlines of healing as did Naaman. He thought his recommendation letter from king, gifts, vast army will heal him. But he was wrong and was corrected to believe and act as per God rules. Many people want to come to Christ along with their prejudices and outlines of salvation. They want Church to follow their man made stories. They want to make church their own property instead of the Christ. Any ‘Church’ which does not believe in the Lordship of Christ, is a false Church and has nothing to do with the Head and King.
The regeneration must be seen in every aspect of life and not merely on the altar of God. Jesus must become the Lord in each aspect of life including accepting all people of the same God’s Children and treating them equally and having relationship with them in terms of eating, fellowship and marriage. “If you just greet the people who greet you, then what is good in it? If you marry only from your own people, don’t the unbelievers do the same? What is Christian in it? Jesus must transform us in all matters. If we don’t accept him Lord of all the matter of Life, forget about Jesus Lordship. We must surrender to the will of God to be regenerated, to be citizen of the kingdom of God.
Jesus is ready to heal our corrupt social system but it is only possible if the Disciples of Christ will carry his message faithfully and not mess it up with the secondary thoughts to appease some. Jesus’ message is unique and it gives hope in all the problems of life and even to Indian social system. Jesus waits for the people who will make this truth plain to all believers so that people like Dr. Ambedkar and Dr. Udit Raj will not opt for other faith but the only WAY to emancipation. Jesus message unites people from different cultures and background. He says, “I don’t caste out any from my house if they come. I welcome them. I embrace them, I love them. I give them rest and dignity in my house. I am honored to be the God of renewed sinners.” “The lamb and lion shall sit together in my kingdom.”
The first fruit of the Holy Spirit-Love must be exhibited for God and for his wonderful people.The caste system must not be practiced inside Church and all the people should be treated as brothers and sisters, “for the old has gone and new has come”. If we only claim only love God and not his people, and not practice what the Bible says, then let’s be sure to hear from the Lord Jesus Christ, “I know you not.”
