Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”

Judges 11:7-10

7 Jephthah said to them, “Didn’t you hate me and drive me from my father’s house? Why do you come to me now, when you’re in trouble?”
8 The elders of Gilead said to him, “Nevertheless, we are turning to you now; come with us to fight the Ammonites, and you will be head over all of us who live in Gilead.”
9 Jephthah answered, “Suppose you take me back to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gives them to me—will I really be your head?”
10 The elders of Gilead replied, “The Lord is our witness; we will certainly do as you say.”

Today’s title is “The Overcomer of Discrimination”

People have differences But they have much more in common than differences. We the people have all have the same fundamental needs, same emotions, and same desires. More than anything else, we the people all have one Father. We are all created after the Father’s own image. The Father God loves us all as His children despite the differences. The bible teaches us to respect and love one another. So discrimination is a horrible sin not only against people who are discriminated against but also to God. So it is no wonder that throughout history godly people spearheaded the abolition of all discrimination including slavery. We can see a beautiful example of such a Christian attitude in Apostle Paul’s letter to Philemon. In the letter, Paul earnestly exhorts Philemon to take Onesimus who was his run-away slave to take his brother in the Lord. “Perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back forever— no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother. He is very dear to me but even dearer to you, both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord (Philemon 15-16)”. But as a matter of fact, there has been discrimination in the history of mankind one way or the other. We can’t confidently say that there is no discrimination even in our time and in our places. There are still times that we feel discriminated against. What do we do about it? The story of Jephthah gives us a good example of overcoming discrimination. Jephthah was born to a mother who was a prostitute. He has driven away from his half-brothers. He grew up with a gang of scoundrels. He became their leader. He seems to be the fitting man to be discriminated against anywhere in the world. It seems that he must have a lot of bitterness and anger against his own brothers. Obviously, he was not. Somehow he became a great man of God. He does not flatly reject when the elders of his hometown wanted him in crisis. He humbly leaves the decision to God. With the help of God, Jephthah saves the hometown that discriminated against and drove him out. He returned love for hatred. He responded to discrimination with forgiveness and sacrifices. In short, Jephthah somehow had a Christlike mind even he was cruelly discriminated against. It was one of the sweetest revenge of love recorded in the bible. Have you ever been discriminated against? I believe we all are in one way or other. How are you responding to it? You can respond to it like Jephthah. You can become a surprisingly more godly man than those who discriminated against you. You can return the hatred and cruelty with love and kindness. Sure then God will lift your name higher in heaven than the discriminators. How are you overcoming your discriminators?