If I had to give a title to this homily it would be, “Jealousy and Greatness.” In both, today’s first reading from the Book of Numbers, and in today’s Gospel passage from St. Mark we encounter people who are feeling jealous for someone else, while the person they are feeling jealous for is trying to teach what true greatness consists of.

In today’s first reading, Moses in true humility acknowledges that it is too much for him to lead the people all by himself. The Lord tells him to select a group of 70 elders who will share in some of the spirit that God has given Moses so that they can assist him in leading the people, particularly in helping resolve disputes among the people. Two of the 70, Eldad and Medad, get left behind in the camp when the elders go with Moses for the Lord to give them some of his spirit. Later, when it is discovered that despite not being at the ceremony Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp, Joshua, Moses’ assistant, get jealous for Moses and wants Moses to stop them.

In today’s Gospel passage, the Apostles seem to become jealous for Jesus when they discover that there are people who are driving out demons in Jesus’ name, even though they are not part of the usual group of disciples. In both cases, the people who got jealous arereally afraid that it will undermine their privileges and honors that they think they will get because of their association with the leader; Joshua’s relationship with Moses, and the Apostles’s relationship with Jesus.

This is especially true for the Apostles. Today’s Gospel passage is a continuation from last week’s. You might recall, Jesus was walking with His Apostles, giving them a course on discipleship, and when they got back to the house where they were staying, Jesus asked them what they were arguing about on the road. The Apostles are embarrassed because they had be arguing over who would be the greatest among them. We have to keep in mind, at that point the Apostles really did not understand what Jesus was really all about. They knew that He was special, that He had great authority and power. They thought He was going to become the next king of Israel, so they were thinking that they would be His chief aides and deputies.

Can we honestly say that we are all that different? Most of us want to be great. Oh, maybe not in the sense of being a celebrity with fame and fortune, but we definitely do not want to be mediocre. We want to be the “World’s Best Grandma or Grandpa” or the “Best Dentist” or “Parent of the Year.” Sometimes we might give up on our dream for greatness because it seems too elusive and we are not sure if we can achieve it, or greatness seems to come at too steep a cost, or we have tried and failed. No one likes giving up on their pursuit for greatness.

As we continue our message series, “Next STEPS,” we will be looking at another lifestyle choice that will help us grow as disciples, and achieve greatness. That’s right, God wants us to be great too. Discipleship is all about greatness. In fact, Jesus tells us what we need to do to be great, “If anyone wishes to be great, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all” (Mark 9:35, from last weekend’s Gospel reading). Instead of being all about power over people, greatness is about power FOR people, to serve people.

This brings us to the first “S” in our “Next STEPS” acronym – Service. True greatness comes from serving others. For the disciple of Jesus, greatness means leveraging our abilities and skills and opportunities and influences and any other advantages or resources we have for the benefit and well being of others, especially those who can do nothing for us in return. Moses understood this and that is why he was not jealous of Medad and Eldad. As he replies to Joshua, “Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!” Of course Jesus understood this and that is why He tells the Apostles, “There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39-40).

Service is an attitude of the heart that should be put into practice every day of our lives when the opportunity presents itself. We should put it on our schedule.

As disciples there are two ways in which we can be of service: Missions and Ministry. These two words are often used interchangeably, but we are going to use them in two different and distinct ways.

When we say serve in ministry we mean serving our parish family. These would be things like being any of the liturgical ministers, helping in our Religious Education program, Adult Faith Formation, RCIA, and so many other ways. As I mentioned in a column not too long ago, we are in need of volunteers for all of our ministries. The general goal of our ministries is to make our parish a welcoming place where we praise God in a worthy and awesome way.

By service in missions we are going to mean service beyond our parish. Jesus gave us a specific instruction when it came to missions. He said, “Be my witnesses in Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). We can think of “Judea” as service in our own community of Delran and Riverside. “Samaria” is about service in other parts of our own country, say Appalachia or places that have been struck by natural disasters. The ends of the earth is service in other countries.

Missions and ministry are paths to the greatness that we want and that God wants for us. Discipleship is simply following the Lord, step by step, on the path of greatness. It is following the Lord step by step in the direction of discipleship; a little bit more today than yesterday, and a little bit more tomorrow than today.