Footwashing and Caste Reconciliation

You’ve been told that there are some people on earth who just aren’t as important as you are. They are inferior to you, you’ve been told. You have also been told that there are some people on earth more important than you are. They are superior to you, you’ve been told. You have also heard that men are better than women, and that you are more important than the young. These are all lies. In fact, they are all part of the same lie. The lie is called the caste system. It is Brahmanism. This lie, this Brahmanism, has fractured India into more than 6,000 castes, each caste despising the other. What has this caste system brought us? Fragmentation, disunity, hatred, oppression, violence and sometimes even murder. Is this what God intends for India?

To challenge this lie, we came to wash your feet today. We’ve traveled across the seas, leaving behind our homes, our families, our jobs, to serve you. We’ve come to show you the truth. What is the truth? That God created all of humankind equal. All of us – men and women, young and old, people of every language, culture and race – are made in His image, and so we are all equal in His eyes. No one is higher than another. No one is lower. Not only that, but God loves you personally and we came to express that to you today not just in words, but with action. This is what He intends for India. Not hatred, violence and oppression, but reconciliation. He longs for us to be reconciled to each other. He longs for us to be reconciliation to Himself.

How is reconciliation possible? The secret lies in service. The lie of the caste system says that servitude is imposed upon you from the outside. The caste system says that you are born into servitude. You have no choice in the matter. Your fate is your fate. However, the True God, the God of love, justice and mercy, this God expressed in the incarnation of Jesus, tells us the truth. The truth is that you have the freedom to choose service. You can choose service in order to reconcile the castes and the genders, In fact, by making this choice, you’ll be following His example.

We came to wash your feet today to show you what the Supreme God of heaven and earth truly values. He is holy. He is loving. He created you, and He calls you His child. He loves both justice and mercy. By making us in His image, He bestowed equality, freedom and dignity to all the people on earth. Jesus came to earth over 2000 years ago, not just to tell us what the Supreme God is like, but to show us:

Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved His dear companions, He continued to love the, right to the end. It was suppertime…Jesus knew that the Father had put Him in complete charge of everything, that He came from God and was on His way back to God. So He got up from the supper table, set aside His robes, and put on an apron. Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with His apron…

After He finished washing their feet, [Jesus] took his robe, put it back on, and went back to His place at the table. Then He said, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You address Me as ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master,’ and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other’s feet. I’ve laid down a pattern for you. What I’ve done, you do.”

-The Bible

The Bible goes on to say that Jesus…

…Gave up His divine privileges;

He took the humble position of a slave

And was born as a human being.

When He appeared in human form,

He humbled Himself…

And died a criminal’s death on a cross.

This same Jesus rose from the dead three days later. This is the same God who washed the feet of His disciples. Today, we washed your feet in His name. We ask you to also follow Him in His example of humility and loving service. Pursuing reconciliation in this manner will destroy the barriers of caste and gender, and will result in a new India, a better India.