I know that it is Memorial Day in the USA right now, because Twitter is full of it. But it is the 31st here: time zones and all that. It is not that I don’t honour those who served my country: I do, but the day we recall that in the Antipodes is April 25, which falls in Autumn.

It is winter now, regardless of how you count it.

And I am not of the USA. The correct days for memorial in the commonwealth are either Anzac day or November 11.

And no, if you live in the States you should celebrate on this day. For you are alive, and your freedom came at a cost. Do not have envy, or try to divide your state: you are either a nation or you are not one.

And if you are a nation, you honour those who built up the nation, and you are not envious of your elite or leaders (the elite are not necessarily the leaders of a nation). They should have a greater burden.

Not be jealous of those who lead within the church, nor let envy get in the way of their preaching. Instead, praise God you were not called there: the temptation to please others is one I would avoid.

For at times the truth and accurate assessment means that people will be hurt.

And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

(Matthew 13:53-58 ESV)

I will leave the side issue that this is the first time we hear of James, who led the Jerusalem church. And that Jesus had a family. Including kid sisters.

What we see in this passage is envy. Resentment. Jesus was chosen. The circumstances of his birth and the controversy about it — when Joseph, being a righteous man, found Mary was pregnant he decided to put her away quietly ie not proceed to marry her because he thought she had become pregnant in the usual manner and it required angelic intervention to stop this — was forgotten. It was not unknown.

Jesus had to know his place. As the world saw it.

Not as God saw it.

When we see people moved by God to repentance we should praise God. We should not worry as much about their credentials as what they do. If they come from the hollows of North Georgia or the murk of Kaitangata, it matters not.

But note one more thing: Christ did not work acts of power in one place in Israel. His home town. The fact he grew up there led not to praise and rejoicing, but envy.

Fall not into that trap.