1. Joshua wanted Moses to stop Eldad and Medad’s prophesying because they didn’t follow the rules. Can you relate to this kind of problem? Is Moses’ response in this reading related to Jesus’ response in the Gospel? How?

2. Does the Spirit work in religions other than your own? Ever? Always? What might the Spirit be doing? Do gifts in other people help you see what God might be doing through them? If the origin of a gift is not clearly the Spirit, would “by their fruits you shall know them” be a good test?

Second Reading
James 5:1-6

1. James says that wages withheld from the harvesters cry aloud to the Lord of hosts. How does his message apply today to arguments for federal minimum wage hike or for buying Fair Trade coffee? Or beefing up laws that would end human trafficking?

2. James says that the rich got their wealth at the expense of the poor. How would humane treatment relate to a living wage? To profound respect?

Gospel
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

1. What was Jesus’ response to John's report that no one outside the inner circle was to minister in his name? Can anyone lay exclusive claim to the reign of God as Jesus revealed it?

2. Does the Holy Spirit speak to us through the good, the beautiful and the true? What if those attributes come to us from people outside our circle? What does Pope Francis say Jesus is trying to teach us in this Gospel?

John and the other disciples display a ‘closed’ attitude when faced with a circumstance that does not fit with their programme, in this case the action, albeit good, of a person ‘outside’ the circle of followers. Jesus on the other hand, appears very free, fully open to the freedom of the Spirit of God, whose actions are not limited by any confines nor boundaries. Jesus wants to educate his disciples—and us today—on this inner freedom.

… He calls us not to think according to the categories of ‘friend/enemy,’ ‘us/them,’ ‘those who are in/those who are out,’ ‘mine/yours,’ but rather to go beyond, to open our heart in order to be able to recognize God’s presence and action, even in unusual and unpredictable environments that are not part of our circle. It is a matter of being more attentive to the authenticity of the good, the beautiful and the true that is done, rather than to the name and the origin of the one who does it.

Spirit of God not limited by boundaries
Pope Francis, Angeles, Sept 30, 2018