There's a story told about an old rabbi who was lying ill in bed. His disciples were holding a whispered conversation at his bedside and were extolling his unparalleled virtues. "Not since the time of Solomon has there been one as wise as he," said one. "And his faith! It equals that of our father Abraham!" said another. "Surely his patience equals that of Job," said a third. "Only in Moses can we find someone who conversed as intimately with God," said a fourth.

The rabbi seemed restless. When the disciples had gone, his wife said to him, "Did you hear them sing your praises?" "I did," said the rabbi. "Then why are you so fretful?" asked his wife. "My humility," complained the rabbi. "No one mentioned my humility."

It's a cute story but it is also an eternal one. For no matter how wise or faithful or patient or devout we are, our pride seems to get us in the way. It always has and always will. The proverb that warns us that pride goes before the fall is as old as creation. Pride is what got Adam and Eve into trouble, what drove Cain to kill his brother Abel. Pride is behind the stories of Noah and the Ark and the Tower of Babel. Pride always got the Jewish people into trouble and was the bane of Jeremiah and all the prophets.

The arrival of Jesus did not change matters any. Pride is the central theme of today’s Gospel reading, both true pride and false pride. We have all been gifted in one way or another. We can and should take honest pride in our gifts and talents, whatever they are. And when we use those gifts well, we must not take our accomplishments for granted. That is the first point.

The second point is this: we must never forget that the reason why we can accomplish what we do is that God has given us the gifts and talents to be so successful. We have done nothing to deserve such gifts. For that we must be thankful.

The third point is that every gift and talent with which we have been blessed has been given to us for a specific reason and that is to build up community. God has blessed each one of us with specific gifts and God expects each one of us to use those gifts as best we can, not hiding them under a bushel basket, neither making them out to be more than they are nor using them for selfish purposes. What we are called to is to be good stewards of those gifts.

Furthermore, point four, no gift one person has is more important or better than any gift another has. No one person is more important than any other person. Rather, each of us has been gifted according to God's own graciousness in order to help us use all those gifts collectively to build community. In truth, we are all equal in God’s eyes.

And, finally, point five and Jesus' pointed remark at the end of the Gospel reading. We are to use our gifts primarily to help those who are less gifted, less blessed. Why we are so blessed and others are not, only God knows that answer. Our response is to be thankful, humble, faithful and good stewards of all our gifts.

Yet even when we are good and thankful stewards of our gifts, humble and faithful stewards of our time and talent and treasure, we must examine the motives behind how and why we use those gifts. Pride can turn a good gift into weapon if destruction: instead of building community we can build walls.

Take money for an example. All of us here have been blessed with financial resources, some more than others, but all of us have been blessed. We all have to examine how we use those resources. Most of us, I dare say, probably waste more than we should, spend more than we can afford, and give less than we can. Those are good points for self-examination. But what we really need to examine are the motives behind why we do what we do not only with our financial resources but also with all our gifts.

The rich man in the Gospel threw a meal for his friends. He may have done so for several reasons. He may have done so out of a sense of duty. Because he was a leader of the Pharisees and because he was wealthy, he was expected to throw such dinners. Perhaps there was more pride and less humility involved, even when he did what he had to do because duty demanded it.

Or he may have invited all those influential people out of pure self- interest. Consciously or unconsciously he may have regarded his giving as an investment. "I'll invite them today; they'll invite me tomorrow," may have been his motive. Life may have been like a ledger sheet for him. Throwing the party went on the credit side. Now he was owed by those he had invited.

Or he may have given the party in order to feel good, to make himself feel superior. He could afford to throw this bash knowing full well that many of those he had invited could not return the favor. All the while, whatever his motives, he seemed to be building a wall between himself and others, tearing down the community rather than building it up.

My suspicion is that you and I can see ourselves in this Pharisee. Sometimes we do what we do, we give or use our financial resources, use our gifts, only out of a sense of duty: we have to do it. And some times we do it only out of a sense of self-interest: what's in it for me. And some times we do what we do in order to feel superior to someone else: I'm richer than you, more talented than you, handsomer than you and I want you and everyone else to know it. Relationships get torn down; walls are put up in the process.

The law of the kingdom of heaven, the law of our faith, the law of life, really, is this: if we do what we do, if we give what we give, out of a sense of pride to gain a reward, whatever that reward, we will receive no reward. All we will accomplish is to build up walls that will separate us and tear down relationships, tear down community, without which we cannot exist. On the other hand, if we act humbly with no selfish thought of a reward, if we do what we do simply because we can't help it, simply because we have no other choice but to use those gifts God has given us as best we can, our reward is certain. And in the process walls will be torn down and community built up.

We do for our children not in order to be praised but because we can't help it: they are our children. If we receive praise, well and good. That's icing on the cake. But we're not earning a living, cooking meals, washing clothes, loving them in order to be praised. We do it because we can't help it. We do it for love. And in the process our family is built up.

That is Jesus' point in the Gospel reading. Humility and stewardship go hand in hand. However much we know, however wise we are, we still know very little compared to the sum total of all knowledge. However much faith or patience or talent or money we have, we never have enough and there are others who have more in comparison. However close we are to God, we can still draw closer. We should be humbled.

At the same time, we must be wise enough to know both that we have been gifted by God and how to use the gifts we have been given; patient enough to know that everything will get done in God's own good time; faithful enough to trust God; and devout enough to, as AA says, let go and let God.

Pride builds walls; humility and thankfulness tear them down. Pride destroys relationships; humility and thankfulness build them up. Rather than tearing down relationships and building up walls, we need to tear down walls and build up relationships. That can only happen when we acknowledge and are thankful for the gifts we have been given and use those gifts, not selfishly, not out of a sense of duty, not out of an even enlightened self-interest, not because it makes us feel superior, but simply because we can't help it.

If we do, our reward will be great, not just in heaven but here and now. The walls we've built up will come tumbling down and the community we need to be part of, that community will be built up.