Pastor's Corner: Who is part of the group and who is not?

In my Roman Catholic tradition, this weekend's readings for Sunday come from the book of Numbers 11:25-29, also from the letter of James 5:1-6 and from the Gospel of Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48.

In the reading from Numbers, Moses speaks to God saying that he needs help to minister to the people. God tells Moses to develop a list of 70 elders upon whom he will place a portion of His spirit on. After the Spirit of God had been given, Joshua has a problem because two of the elders who are on the list to receive the Spirit of God had not strictly followed the orders given by Moses and stayed in the ca...