Have you ever been discriminated against? You might be thinking to yourself that you can't recall a time when you were discriminated against. But if I point out some examples of discrimination, you might come to the realization that you have been discriminated against at one time or another.

I bet the elderly pay more in health insurance than do younger people. That's a form of discrimination based on age. The elderly have to pay more in insurance premiums just because of their age.

What about the younger people who are just learning how to drive or haven't been driving for a long time? I bet their insurance premiums are higher than, let's say, the insurance premiums of those who have been driving for a longer period of time. And if a young driver happens to be male and single, he's socked with an even higher premium. This is discrimination based on age and gender.

Discrimination continues to go on in our society. If we really think about it, we all have in some way been discriminated against in an unfair way.

The passage from Matthew has to do with the all-inclusive nature of God's salvation. Now you're probably wondering what I mean by "all-inclusive nature of God's salvation." What I mean is that our Lord doesn't discriminate against a person based on that person's skin color, age, ethnic background, gender, etc. It doesn't matter who you are. As long as you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are included in God's plan of salvation. You aren't discriminated against.

The reason I mention discrimination is because the Jews discriminated against the Gentiles in Jesus' day. And it's this issue that the reading from Matthew addresses. The Jews thought that salvation was for them alone. They thought that they were better and worthier than the Gentiles. But this passage emphasizes the fact that Gentiles are included in God's plan of salvation. Since God is the creator of all people, all people have the chance to be saved by Him.

The reading from Matthew is particularly interesting regarding the inclusion of the Gentiles in God's kingdom. At first glance, it seems that Jesus is very rude to the Gentile woman. She asks Jesus to heal her daughter, who is possessed by a demon. However, Jesus doesn't answer her and keeps on walking as if the woman had never said anything.

The woman is persistent, though. She continues to cry out to Jesus. Apparently, this annoyed the disciples, so much so that they asked Jesus to send her away. Finally, after realizing Jesus wasn't responding to her, the woman gets down in front of Jesus and pleads with Him to heal her daughter, figuring He can't avoid her now. But then Jesus says something that most people would consider rude: "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

Jesus means that He came to save Israelites, and it wouldn't be right to take the word of God away from them and give it to the Gentiles. But Jesus had another thing in mind as well when He said this to the woman. As I mentioned before, the Jews thought that they were better in their spirituality than the Gentiles were. Through this incident, Jesus wanted to show the Jews that were with Him that this woman had more faith and was more righteous than they were. This is made clear in her response: "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Instead of lashing back at Jesus in anger for having said this to her, she humbly answers Him. Would the Jews have answered in the same way she did had someone said something rude to them?

In essence Jesus was saying to the Jews with Him, and even to His own disciples, "You think you are more righteous than the Gentiles, yet look at how this woman responded to what I said to her. You discriminate against the Gentiles but would you have responded like this woman did in spite of her being called a dog?" By treating the woman this way, Jesus was showing the Jews who were with Him that this Gentile woman had more faith than they had and that they had no right to discriminate against the Gentiles. The Gentiles too had a place in God's kingdom. And some of the Gentiles were more righteous than they were.

Jesus then grants this woman's request. We see that her persistence paid off. We see that her faith that Jesus could heal her daughter paid off as well.

Discrimination has no place with God. When Jesus came into the world, He didn't decide just to die on the cross for the sins of the Jews. He didn't decide just to die on the cross for the sins of white people. He didn't decide to die just for the elderly or just for men. Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead to give all people life eternal. The Bible says Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world.

And now anyone can receive the gift of eternal life, including you and me. We, of course, never deserved to be included in God's plan of salvation. Honestly, what have we done to deserve eternal life? Nothing. It's the grace of Jesus Christ that saves us. And it's God's grace that crosses all boundaries and divisions. Color, race, age, gender don't matter to God. All people are important to Him.

That's why it's important that we not discriminate against people, especially when it comes to the Gospel. All people need to hear the Gospel because all people are God's creation. The Jews regarded the Gentiles as a different kind of animal. They believed the kingdom of God belonged only to them. How wrong they were. And Jesus proved them wrong when He granted the request of the Gentile woman, who believed in God.

This means that we welcome those visitors who come into our midst at church. We extend a hearty welcome to them. We don't discriminate against them because they aren't exactly like we are. We view their presence as an opportunity for us to share God's word with them and show them good Christian hospitality.

God's salvation has come to us regardless of our color, age, race, and gender. And as a result, we are a blessed people. God never discriminated against us and won't ever. At times, we're unfairly discriminated against in our own society, but before God we are treated as His children. I pray that as we go through life, we will remember that we belong to God. We have been included in His kingdom.

I also pray that we will continue to look forward to the day when all racial, age, ethnic and gender barriers will be gone forever. For in God's eternal kingdom "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Let's keep our sights continually on God and persist in the faith as did the Gentile woman.