Air Mail

Summary

The SkyePod – Air Mail (January 9, 2026)

Host: Skye Jethani
Producer: Mike Strehlo

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Episode Overview

In this “Air Mail” episode of The SkyePod, Skye Jethani and producer Mike Strehlo answer listener questions on some of the sticky issues at the intersection of faith and daily life: public versus private education, the complexities of interfaith community service, and who Jesus meant when he spoke of “the least of these.” The conversation is candid, humorous, and rooted in both personal experience and theological reflection, with Skye giving thoughtful, nuanced answers and Mike challenging and clarifying throughout.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Public vs. Private Education: Changing Perspectives and Realities

Timestamps: 01:55–09:59

• Listener Question: Why does Skye advocate public education yet say he’d consider private school if starting over?
• Skye Clarifies:
  • He has always attended public institutions and sent his kids to public school, mainly due to financial reasons and the quality of their local schools.
  • The decision wasn’t thoroughly deliberated 20 years ago; if he had young kids today, he would discuss it more because public education and its environment have changed.
• Key Concerns:
  • Educational Quality: “It’s just weird to me that kids get to retake tests all the time... it feels like we have so lowered the bar.” — Skye Jethani [04:38]
  • Culture & Agendas: Notes specific experiences where political or social agendas overtake the core purpose of education, e.g., schools banning all religious symbols but displaying other value-related decor.
• Broad Take:
  • No Prescription: He does not prescribe any approach for everyone, emphasizing discernment and individual family needs.
  • Value of Public Education: Public schools are critical as one of the few shared civic institutions in the U.S.

    “If the public education system in this country collapses, we are in huge trouble as a country.” — Skye Jethani [05:52]

  • On Private vs. Public School Comparisons: Private schools select students and often have resource advantages, making comparisons unfair.
• Both Hosts Empathize with public educators, highlighting the diversity of school experiences and the challenges of being caught in culture wars.

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2. Interfaith Outreach: Partnering Without Compromising Faith

Timestamps: 10:10–15:50

• Listener Question: Should Christians partner with groups like the LDS Church in community outreach, or act independently for greater doctrinal purity?
• Skye’s Position:
  • Strong Support for Partnership:

    “I think 100% you should partner...I think it’s great to partner with anyone—believer, non-believer, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, I don’t care—who [is] committed to the well-being of their neighbors.” — Skye Jethani [11:43]

  • Love is Not Transactional:
    • Christians shouldn’t serve with the motive of “PR for the gospel,” but because love is an intrinsic good reflecting God’s character.

    “We don’t love people because of the outcome. We love people because of who we are in Christ. End of story.” — Skye Jethani [12:44]

  • On Watering Down the Gospel:
    • Affirms anything in another religion that aligns with the character of God. Doing good together is not an endorsement of all beliefs but an affirmation of shared values.

    “When a Muslim loves their neighbor, you are reflecting the truth of who Jesus is.” — Skye Jethani [14:39]

  • Evangelizing Through Service:
    • Build sincere relationships; don’t use service as a conversion tactic.

    “As that relationship deepens, if you have conversations about faith...great, wonderful...” — Skye Jethani [15:27]

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3. Matthew 25: Who Are “The Least of These”?

Timestamps: 16:12–25:35

• Listener Question: Is Jesus in Matthew 25 (“as you did to the least of these, my brothers...”) referring only to Christians or all people in need?
• Historical and Scriptural Context:
  • Early Church Interpreters: All major church fathers (Augustine, Origen, John Chrysostom, etc.) interpreted it expansively—as referring to anyone in need, not just Christians. [18:20–19:00]
  • Jewish Roots: Jesus echoes Torah commands to care for the suffering regardless of community or faith (e.g., foreigner, stranger).
  • Consistency with Jesus’ Broader Teaching: The Good Samaritan parable and other teachings advocate indiscriminate, universal compassion.

    “It would be just bizarre for Jesus to say, ‘I’m just talking about people who share your religious identity.’” — Skye Jethani [19:45]

  • Why Some Want a Narrow Definition:
    • The phrase “my brothers” gets interpreted as “disciples,” but context and broader scripture support a wider meaning.
    • There is an unconscious desire to feel “special” by limiting the objects of God’s love and mercy.

    “If God’s love is really as indiscriminate as Matthew 25… then I’m not as special as I thought I was.” — Skye Jethani [22:32] “Don’t put yourself on a pedestal... it’s not because you’re special.” — Skye Jethani [23:48]

• Mike Adds:
  • Christians often prefer making Jesus’ teachings easier, focusing on insiders, perhaps out of a desire for purity or comfort.
• Skye’s Bottom Line:
  • The message of Jesus is radical, indiscriminate love, challenging the desire for exclusivity in receiving and giving love.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Returning from the Holidays:

  “I just have a sick mind. So we're all back in the saddle, back.” — Skye Jethani [00:42]

• Jokes About Podcast Ownership:

  “You don't care? You just do it. … It's for my own amusement.” — Skye Jethani [00:36]

• On School Decisions:

  “Every kid's different needs, different needs. ... This is—no, I'm not prescribing this for anybody.” — Skye Jethani [04:05]

• On Transactional Love:

  “A lot of evangelicalism in particular is so transactionally focused. It's so much about the return on investment,... we've actually made love into a secondary value rather than a primary value.” — Skye Jethani [13:10]

• On the Human Desire to Be Special:

  “We want to believe that I'm special, my group is special. … This is the same hubris that the Israelites had.” — Skye Jethani [22:32]

• Bumper Sticker Anecdote:

  “Jesus loves you. Then again, Jesus loves everybody.” — Skye Jethani [24:38]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:55–09:59 – Education Decisions, State of Public Schools, and Impact of Policy/Culture
• 10:10–15:50 – Interfaith Outreach, Motivations, and Theological Implications
• 16:12–25:35 – Matthew 25: Expansive vs. Narrow Interpretation, Historical Consensus, and Human Motivation

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Tone & Atmosphere

• Candid and Reflective: Skye is transparent about past decisions and the need for present discernment.
• Witty and Warm: Friendly banter, self-deprecating humor, and a conversational style dominate.
• Thoughtful and Engaged: Deep engagement with questions from personal, scriptural, and historical lenses.

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For More: To hear the rest of this episode and enjoy other subscriber-only content, visit holypost.com/skyepod.

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Transcript

[Mike Strehlo]

Just feels like maybe be careful of the plank. The Star wars plank in your eye as you look at stranger things splinter in someone else's eye. Okay.

[Sky Jutani]

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Sky Pod, brought to you by Holy Post Media and the Weyland Yutani Corporation. I'm Sky Jutani, joined by our producer, Mike Strehlo. Hi, Mike.

[Mike Strehlo]

Hi, Sky. Do you think people understand your jokes?

[Sky Jutani]

I don't care.

[Mike Strehlo]

You don't care? You just do it.

[Sky Jutani]

It's for my own amusement.

[Mike Strehlo]

Okay, well, you do that quite often. And I guess it's your podcast.

[Sky Jutani]

It's a new year. It's 2026. We've debriefed privately in the office with everyone about everyone's breaks, vacations. You had sick kids. I just have a sick mind. So we're all back in the saddle, back.

[Mike Strehlo]

We're healthy, ready to go.

[Sky Jutani]

I'm actually, I'm grateful to. I need the routine of work. It's just a good rhythm to be. I don't want too much time off.

[Mike Strehlo]

So my wife listens to this. So I have to say I'm not grateful to be back. I miss my wife and children dearly. But if my wife could maybe hit mute on her phone for like, the next five seconds, it's also been nice to be back.

[Sky Jutani]

Yes. I remember that stage of life when I had little kids at home. And it's a delight and it's charming and it's wonderful. The holidays, all that, and it's exhausting.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yes.

[Sky Jutani]

And it is a selfish thing when you get to leave the home.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yes.

[Sky Jutani]

And yeah, I get it. But that's where we are. Okay, so today we're doing an airmail episode where we.

[Mike Strehlo]

I.

[Sky Jutani]

We respond to questions from listeners. We've accumulated all kinds of things from previous episodes. People send in their own questions. I know a little bit about where we're going today, but where do you want to begin?

[Mike Strehlo]

Let's start. Start with education.

[Sky Jutani]

Education.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah. Okay. You talk a lot about public education. And so one of our listeners had this question for you, Sky. Why do you tout your public education experience and say that you support public education, but insist that if you had to do it over again, you would send your children to private school?

[Sky Jutani]

Oh, okay. First of all, that's not entirely accurate.

[Mike Strehlo]

Okay.

[Sky Jutani]

I, I have talked about. I went to public school my whole life. Public college, university. My first experience in, like, a non public education setting was seminary. Yeah. And overall, that was a very positive experience. My kids all went to public schools growing up, and for the most Part. Despite some hiccups at a generally positive experience there. So I'm all for that. Part of the reason our kids went to public schools is that, one, I didn't have the money to send them to a private school. It just wasn't an option. And two, we were fortunate to live in an area that had very good public schools. So all that worked out. I. I think what I said on a previous podcast was not that I would send my kids to a private school if I were doing it now. I said I think I would deliberate more.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah.

[Sky Jutani]

And we. My wife and I talked almost. We talked very little about this decision. Like, it was just off the table. Like, we is public. It was done. That was it. I think if we had little kids today, we would have talked more about it because I think the public school environment is changing or has changed so much. And it. For me, it's not like I'm worried about their faith development in a public school setting. That's. That's not my motivation. It's. It's the quality of the education that concerns me.

[Mike Strehlo]

Okay. Okay. You gotta break that down. So would you say you've said then, two reasons. The quality of the education is changing and just public education, the environment is changing as well. Yeah. And so are you concerned that, oh, the kids just aren't learning as much now in school, or are you concerned there are agendas being. I. I think spread? There's.

[Sky Jutani]

There's a bit of both. Again, I'm not saying I wouldn't put them in public schools. It's an. It entirely depends on where you are and what your schools are like, the particular needs of your family or your kids. I know families where some of their kids have gone to public school, some have gone private, some in homeschool. Every kid's. Different needs, different needs. This is. No, I'm not prescribing this for anybody. I'm just saying when I look back 20 years ago, we made this decision without giving a ton of thought to it, and we don't regret the decision. It was great. Again, if we were doing it today, I think we would deliberate about it more because things have changed. And one thing I've noticed is just like, I'm a little bit surprised by the way public education has changed. And I am not an expert in public education. I have dear friends who are public school educators and I think the world of them and administrators. But it's just weird to me that kids get to retake tests all the time. And I'm sure this is happening in private schools, too. It's weird to me that it feels like we have so lowered the bar and so softened the expectations that I'm not sure that's great. And then I do think in some communities and in some public school environments, things have gotten so squishy around social issues, politics, things like that. I mean, the middle school my kids went to wouldn't allow any religious symbols in it, but they had a rainbow LGBTQ Christmas tree. And you're just like, really? Like, that seems weird. So. And I think that was particular to that school, that administration, whatever, but it wasn't like. I just think things are getting away from the core function of the school, which is to educate our kids.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah.

[Sky Jutani]

And. And that. That. I. I just think I would give pause today in a way I didn't 20 years ago.

[Mike Strehlo]

Okay.

[Sky Jutani]

That's all. And I'm. And I still believe, and I've said this many, many times, it is imperative that we have a healthy, functioning public education system in this country. And I'm very hesitant to tell people to just withdraw from that, because I think if the public education system in this country collapses, we were in huge trouble as a country. So I am very reluctant to say, don't support public education.

[Mike Strehlo]

I will say every time we talk about public education, I learned how many teachers listen to the holy posts because they have. They have thoughts. Often our mailbox gets full. And I do think it's important to reiterate that it's difficult to talk about this subject because schools vary so much from community and state they're in. And so what has been true for you, and even true now, the stories you're hearing, they are true. You have firsthand experience. And so it would be wrong to say, like, well, that's not actually happening. And I also understand those who may be listening who would say, well, what you're describing, sky, is not happening in their community. Right. Which is just why I think this just gives more. I'm trying to basically, Sky, I'm trying to help you out here with our listeners who might be frustrated with what you just said of, like, oh, I just think it varies so much by place to place, so it's hard to talk about.

[Sky Jutani]

Totally.

[Mike Strehlo]

I do think grade inflation is happening everywhere. That's not unique to the public schools. Harvard is doing that, like, even the private schools. And so. But I think the important point here is that it's just, like, most things takes a lot of discernment and wisdom.

[Sky Jutani]

And I don't have any judgment. I have. We've talked about this before. I know families who've made different decisions, again, for different kids, they've made different decisions. Everyone needs to figure this out for what's best for you. Go for it.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah.

[Sky Jutani]

I, and I again have no regrets over the decisions we made and where my kids have been educated. I'm super grateful for those schools and the teachers, administrators, like, overwhelmingly positive experience, incredibly grateful for those folks. And I would be, if someone were like, if I were a politician, I would be screaming from the hilltops and the importance of protecting public education and reforming it in some places to make it better. But my goodness, it's one of the only institutions we have in this country where our pluralistic, diverse communities rally together and do something in common. If we lose that, I think we're in huge trouble. And other people have made this point many, many times. One of the reasons why private schools often perform better than public schools is they get to pick their own students. And those students tend to come from wealthier, more resource families, which tend to take more interest in the education of their kids. And third, public education institutions in this country have the obligation to educate all of the children in a community, including those who don't speak English, including those with special needs, including those that require an enormous amount of resources and those are burdens that private schools don't have to carry so they can focus more on improving the education of the brightest and most equipped kids already. So it's an, it's an unfair apples to oranges comparison.

[Mike Strehlo]

And it is a shame of how much school public schools have been caught in the middle of culture wars. Absolutely. And a lot of schools and a lot of teachers have been put in impossible situations that I do feel bad about that they are making. Yeah. Decisions that there's no good or right answer. But they have to make a decision here.

[Sky Jutani]

And the thing that concerns me on the other side, though, is I think in some cases, teachers unions, education unions, public school administration, some, in some cases, not everywhere, in some cases, I think, are making very foolish decisions that are being used to drive more families away from public education. And they're only ultimately hurting themselves because they're getting caught up in some of the progressive agenda idealism stuff. It's like, guys, you're shooting yourself in the foot and you're hurting public education in the long run by getting caught up in this stuff. And we need people on school boards and in administrative positions that can steer clear of that nonsense and focus primarily on educating these kids and creating an environment where everyone in the community is welcome and can grow.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah, no, I agree. Our kids go to public school. We've been really happy with it so far, especially since our school just decided to ban cell phones, I think. Oh, yes, that's a good sign.

[Sky Jutani]

Right?

[Mike Strehlo]

So our sympathies go out to you public school teachers. You don't have it easy, but you're doing good work. Sky, what are your thoughts on participating in interfaith outreach? I live in Salt Lake City and members of the LDS Church are definitely not part of the historical orthodox church. But they organize a lot of good for our community. Does it make sense to come alongside them or go at ourselves as a smaller, less effective group?

[Sky Jutani]

There's a question, there's a part of this I'm unclear on.

[Mike Strehlo]

Okay.

[Sky Jutani]

What are your thoughts on participating in interfaith outreach? What does that mean? Interfaith outreach?

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah.

[Sky Jutani]

This is not like evangelism.

[Mike Strehlo]

No. So that. So listener, I'm sorry if we're getting this wrong. I'm going to interpret their question based on what they said. And the rest of it is, should Christian groups be partnering with other religious groups doing good community service or should churches just do it on their own, not partner with their groups or community service? Water down the gospel message?

[Sky Jutani]

No, no, no, no. Okay, I get it now. First of all, my limited exposure to Mormons is that they're great neighbors. I think that's what I mean, that's the reputation.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah, very nice. Right?

[Sky Jutani]

No, I think 100% you should partner. Yeah, 100%. I think it's great to partner with anyone. Believer, non believer, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, I don't care.

[Mike Strehlo]

But sky, who. Wait a minute.

[Sky Jutani]

Who are committed to the well being of their neighbors towards common projects. I mean, this is what the United States is built upon. It's. We come together, e pluribus unum, from many one. And we collect our resources through the form of taxes and we build roads and we put up fire stations and schools and an army. We do all these things together with people with whom we don't share doctrinal beliefs, but we share a common home. And so we need each other's help to make it a good place for everyone. I think we do that on a national level, we do it on a local level. And I don't think that is an impairment to your faith. It's an expression of it.

[Mike Strehlo]

But sky, if I do nice things to other people to reflect the love of God so that they might know that's your problem. How will they know it's God loving them through me, if the person next to me isn't a Christian.

[Sky Jutani]

We don't love our neighbors as pr. For the Gospel, love is not a means to an end. It is an intrinsic good rooted in the character of God. We don't love people because of the outcome. We love people because of who we are in Christ. End of story. So if they see you alongside a Mormon neighbor, I don't know, tutoring kids, picking up garbage in the street, pick your service project, great. You're not doing it for the pr. You're doing it because it's a way to love your neighbor. So I think we need to. I think a lot of evangelicalism in particular is so transactionally focused. It's so much about the return on investment. It's so much, who's going to come to faith because of this, that we have actually made love into a secondary value rather than a primary value. And that's.

[Holy Post Announcer]

I mean, there are so many stories.

[Sky Jutani]

In the Gospels of Jesus loving people, healing people, without doing any preaching, without expecting them to follow him in return. It's an expression of who he is, not a tactic for the advancement of his message. Sometimes that's the case, but most of the time it isn't. So would I do an evangelistic outreach event with Mormons?

[Mike Strehlo]

No.

[Sky Jutani]

Just like I wouldn't do it with Muslims or Hindus because we're preaching different messages. But would I organize a food drive to feed the hungry or a shelter to care for the homeless? 100%, I would. Yeah.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah. Okay. And then let's ask you. I think there are some people who would also say they're afraid that by partnering with these other religious groups, it is watering down the Gospel. Is it. Is it essentially communicating like, oh, all these religions are the same. They all lead to the same place. Like, are you condoning other religions? If you are working together, I am.

[Sky Jutani]

Happy to affirm anything about another religion which is true of the character of God. So when a Muslim loves their neighbor, I don't think we should be like, full arms, like, well, you know, they're not really loving their neighbor, because they're not. No. When you love your neighbor, you are reflecting the truth of who Jesus is.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah, yeah.

[Sky Jutani]

And I think that should be applauded and affirmed. When you're feeding the poor, you are doing something which is in consistent alignment with the character of God. And I think it's insane and ridiculous for Christians to be like, well, I need to know exactly what your doctrine and theology is before I will affirm that. Good thing you're doing.

[Mike Strehlo]

Okay. And then my last question related to this topic. If I am working with Muslims to do good work in my community, should I be evangelizing to them as we're doing the good work?

[Sky Jutani]

No, I think you should be like you would with anybody be building a relationship of mutual, mutual care, concern, love and trust. And as that relationship deepens, if you have conversations about faith and doctrine and scripture and all in Jesus. Great, Wonderful.

[Mike Strehlo]

So basically what you're telling me is I shouldn't be so transactional in the way I view people. I should just focus on actually loving people?

[Sky Jutani]

Well, yes, I don't believe God is transactional in the way he views anyone. I don't think he saves us because he wants to use us. I think he loves us because he loves us.

[Mike Strehlo]

All right, I guess I have to cancel my community car wash this weekend that I was going to do well because it was just going to be my church.

[Sky Jutani]

Well, why don't you invite some other people to participate with me?

[Mike Strehlo]

I will. Sky. All right. I didn't actually plan a community car wash and it would be very cold this time of year to do that. But I've got another. Speaking of this is this question is kind of related. And I, I have my own question related to this guy, so this will be good. Okay. I recently heard a sermon Preached on Matthew 25 where Jesus talks about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger. And in the passage, Jesus says, as you did this to the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. The preacher said that this should be interpreted to mean caring for the vulnerable in the local church. I always read it to mean caring for the vulnerable world at large, or at least the very big church. All right, so the gist of it is because I've heard the same thing, that when Jesus says, whatever you've done to the least of these, you've done to me, that Jesus is actually talking about fellow believers, not just everyone. So who's. Right.

[Sky Jutani]

So this, this, there's a long, not terribly long, but there's a decent length debate about exactly this question. Yeah, it tends to be more fundamentalist Christian traditions that want to narrow the definition of who Jesus is talking about, that he's only talking about fellow Christians, fellow believers, in some cases even just the apostles, you know, people who are spreading the message of Jesus that he has in mind. And it's larger traditions of the church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, more mainline Protestant denominations that take the expansive view that he's talking about. Anyone who Is poor, suffering, you know, hungry. A couple things. Number one, when you go back and read the earliest Church fathers on this, Augustine, Origen, John, Chrysostom, Gregory of Nyssa, you go on down the list universally, they all interpret Matthew 25 the same way, which is they take the expansive view that Jesus is identifying with all the, not just with Christians, but with anybody who is poor, homeless, naked, imprisoned, whatever. So that's interesting that if you would think that if Jesus really just meant Christian disciples here, the earliest Christian disciples would be like, no, he's talking about Christian disciples. That's not how they read it. So there's a strike against the narrow definition. The other problem with the narrow definition I think is it would contradict both Jewish teaching and Jesus own words throughout earlier chapters of the Gospels. So for example, a lot of the categories that Jesus lists in Matthew 25, the poor, the naked, the homeless, the foreigner, blah blah, blah, these are categories, categories that he draws from the Torah in which God's people, Old Testament people, the Jews, Israelites, are commanded to show kindness and compassion to all of those categories of people, including those outside the Israelite community. Yeah, right. The foreigner, the stranger, all that. So for Jesus to take essentially quoting the Old Testament Torah and narrowly defining who these people are when the Torah itself expansively defines it would be really weird, especially given the fact that earlier in the Gospel accounts, Jesus has the Good Samaritan story where there's a stranger on the side of the road whose identity is unknown and a priest and a Levite don't help him and the Samaritan does. And the whole point of that story is to broadly redefine who is your neighbor away from someone who shares my ethnicity or religious identity to anyone in need. That's clearly the point of the Good Samaritan story. So then when you get to Matthew 25, it would be just bizarre for Jesus to say, you know, I'm just talking about people who share your religious identity. That's all I'm talking about here. Those are the ones that I'm referring to. So I think when you look at both internal to Jesus own teaching in the Gospels, when you look at the link here to the Old Testament law, and then you look at the early church fathers that wrote about this a lot, they all agree that Jesus is referring to anybody in need as his brother, not just those who are Christians.

[Mike Strehlo]

So do you know then how the other interpretation became like when it became popular of saying that Jesus was actually just talking about fellow believers?

[Sky Jutani]

I don't. That's A good question. I could research that. I don't know offhand, but I know why it did.

[Mike Strehlo]

Okay.

[Sky Jutani]

And that is Jesus doesn't just say that which you do to the least of these. He says that which you do to these brothers of mine, the least of these, my brothers. So the problem is when he says my brothers, people are going well elsewhere. In the Gospels he talks about his brothers as his disciples. So I think there's an honest and not nefarious interpretation that goes, well, why would he say brothers if he's meaning people who aren't his disciples too? But I think when you take the preponderance of evidence there, he's saying, and again, you get this in the Old Testament, that God in the Old Testament talks about the orphan and the widow are. The orphan is his child, the widow is his wife. Like he, he especially identifies with these broken, marginalized, needy people. And Jesus is echoing that same sentiment from the Torah by saying, these people in greatest need, they're the ones I identify with, just as God in the Old Testament does too. So I think that's where the brothers language comes from. And he doesn't simply mean my disciples.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah, I think part of it too frankly is that we are inclined to try to make Jesus's teaching easier rather than harder.

[Sky Jutani]

Exactly.

[Mike Strehlo]

And really what these last two questions kind of get at, it's this temptation many Christians have of, oh, I just kind of want to focus on my fellow believers because we think the same things and, and it's just going to be a lot easier to care for them and do work with them. It becomes challenging when we open that up to people who don't believe the same thing. And we're worried that somehow we will become tainted ourselves or that people will assume we believe things that we don't believe. And I mean, it gets back to this age old question of how do you maintain doctrinal purity while also striving for community and unity and caring for others?

[Sky Jutani]

I think it's a very generous way to put it. Can I say it in a non generous way?

[Mike Strehlo]

It's a new year, okay? You have a chance to be different this year.

[Sky Jutani]

I know, but this is important. I think psychologically part of what's behind that is if God's love is really as indiscriminate as Matthew 25 would say, or many other parts of the Gospels or the Scriptures would say, then I'm not as special as I thought I was. And so if my call is to reflect and emulate the mercy and love that God has shown by being indiscriminate in my love, including to my enemy. Forget the non disciple of Jesus. We're talking about the enemy of Jesus. I'm supposed to love and care. If I'm supposed to be as indiscriminate my love as, as my heavenly Father is, then that means my receiving of his love doesn't make me special. Yeah, I'm just part of the unwashed masses that he loves. And we want to believe that I'm special. My group is special. We've got it figured out. We've got the truth. We're, you know, the, the people being saved from the flood. We're the people that God has selected. We're the call. This is the same hubris that the Israelites had. They thought they were special because God called them and he reminds them over and over and over again in the Old Testament.

[Holy Post Announcer]

You're nothing special.

[Sky Jutani]

I called you because you were the smallest and the weakest and you're just as frail as everyone else. Don't put yourself on a pedestal. I will use you and you're going to be my instrument. But that it's not because you're special and we continually fall into that thing. So we want to narrowly define Matthew 25 because we want to believe that we're part of a special group. Group.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah.

[Sky Jutani]

Sorry, you're not.

[Mike Strehlo]

Yeah, it's kind of like when I'm sure, maybe it's just me because I'm a bad person. I've had this experience where I will get a compliment from someone I highly respect or look up to or a really important person. And I'll be like, oh, wow, that really means a lot. And then I will find out, oh, they, they sent that compliment to someone else, especially if it's someone I don't really like very much. And then I'm like, well, now it means nothing that I, I am like so sinful in my human nature that it's like, oh, if that compliment wasn't meant just for me, then it completely invalidates.

[Sky Jutani]

Have you seen that bumper sticker in fairly large font? It says, Jesus loves you. And then smaller underneath in parentheses, it says, then again, Jesus loves everybody. And it's kind of a backhanded way of taking the compliment away.

[Holy Post Announcer]

And there's a weird theological truth to.

[Sky Jutani]

That that we need to grapple with. But I think in our fallenness, in our pridefulness, we want to believe we are special. And therefore God's love has to be limited and discriminate in order to make me as its recipient special and it justifies me then limiting my love and being discriminate. And that plagues all kinds of religious communities. It plagued God's Old Testament people. It plagues the church today. And I think it's completely incompatible with the message of Jesus.

[Mike Strehlo]

I mean, so much of the New Testament is reminding churches you were once sinful, away from God, far from God. God loves you, therefore you go love the people who are far from God. Now.

[Sky Jutani]

This is the central problem that Jesus is unearthing in the parable of the Prodigal Son, the older Son don't worry.

[Holy Post Announcer]

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[Sky Jutani]

To hear this dumb announcement again, but.

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