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Dealing with Domestic Help

An old hymn goes ‘...and they’ll know we are Christians by our love’. The caste system in India has insidiously crept into the Indian Christian ethos as well. All are created in the image of God is a theory many Christians spout platitudes about but have not quite put into practice. Repeatedly in the Old Testament, God’s ire was raised because the Israelites had ignored the poor or were oppressing them and denying them justice. We need not look further than our own homes to see whether we have the heart of God in this matter.

A friend from South India once marveled that we had such an egalitarian society in Shillong. He remarked that if he were to treat his servants the same way we treated ours, they would take advantage of the situation. Long ago, it came to me as a revelation that we are to look at our servants the same way that God does: as precious souls to be treated with the dignity that we accord everyone else. Did this prevent my servants from taking advantage of my kindness? Not always! But this made it much easier to deal with them from a godly perspective.

It is easy to apply the Gospel to only our immediate family and to fail to see that I and my household will serve the Lord (Jos 24:15) includes our servants too. A lesson that I learned from my mother was to treat our servants as part of the family. Sharing our food, giving them their own space, allowing for leisure and holidays, and opportunities to better themselves are the hallmarks of a true Christian. For many middle-class Christians, this will mean a radical approach and a paradigm shift in their thinking.

When we treat people with respect and are sensitive to their needs, they will do their jobs as well as they can. When we become sensitive to the problems that a servant encounters, we learn to be good masters.

Lord, open my eyes to see where I have looked down on my servants as an inferior class and where I have been oppressive. Give me the grace to walk in Your footsteps and treat them justly and fairly. Amen.