First Reading:  Deuteronomy 26:4-10

Pride

Pride is a useful tool, but it has two edges. It can make the weak strong, but it can make the proud arrogant. Pride needs humility as a counter-balance; humility tempers pride with reality.

This passage from Deuteronomy is part of the harvest liturgy. The Law instructed an Israelite to take various produce at the beginning of the harvest (the "first fruits") and present the produce to the Lord at his dwelling (i.e., the Temple). After the priest received the produce and placed it on the altar [4], the farmer who offered it would recite the creedal formula of 26:5-10. Then, the priest and the farmer's family would sit down to feast on the produce.

The creedal formula emphasized the nation's humble origin and the graciousness of its God. God took an alien tribe, made them fertile [5], freed them [6-8], and gave them a land "flowing with milk and honey" [9]. At the end of this formula, the farmer reciprocated God's goodness with his offering [9] and a bow of worship [10]. On the lips of the farmer, the history of the nation and the power of its God were remembered.

Why was this ceremony important? The farmers of Israel were notorious for the "Sunday with God, Monday with my buddies" syndrome. On the Sabbath they would worship the God of Israel at the Temple; during the week, they would offer personal sacrifice to the fertility idols of their pagan neighbors. Split loyalties meant shallow faith, or no faith at all. The ceremony of the first fruits denied the fertility idols of such an honor, it focused farmer's attention on God's power, and it reminded the farmer of his humble roots. Israeli patriotism was exercised as loyalty to and humility before God.

Where place does humility have in our life, our national pride, and in our faith?