Sometimes, when we mean to be fixing something, we actually make it worse!  Jesus taught a parable about this very thing.

What happened in the parable was something like what happened to Barabas and Uncle Floyd when they got home from Family Camp yesterday.  First they went to the kennel and picked up Jeter and Arod.  Then Barabas helped carry the sleeping bags and suitcases and fans and lamp and throw rug and, well at lot of stuff, he helped carry it from the truck into the house.  And then Uncle Floyd was busy doing all the mountains of laundry from a week at Camp Nawakwa!  Such a fun week!  Next year you need to ask your family if THEY would like to go!  I’ll remind you in March of 2009.

So, while Uncle Floyd was in the basement doing the laundry Barabas felt like HE should be doing something too.  While he looked around the back yard he noticed that a LOT of weeds had grown up in the little garden where Uncle Floyd has his tomato plants.  So, in a burst of helpfulness, Barabas decided he would surprise his uncle and pull some weeds

Except Barabas is not so knowledgeable about weeding.  And because he has a VASE instead of two feet like Uncle Floyd, when he stepped into the garden he kind of stepped on a whole branch of the tomato plant and it broke off.  And then he wasn’t sure what was actually a weed and what was a good plant and he pulled up some weeds and . . . a young tomato plant . . . and a pepper plant! 

When Uncle Floyd brought up a basket of wet laundry to hang on the clothes line he saw Barabas in the garden and said “Barabas . . . ?”

Which startled Barabas and he quick turned, lost his balance and fell into the biggest tomato plant breaking it off at the ground!  Barabas looked at Uncle Floyd’s face, which was not smiling!  Uncle Floyd placed his hand over his mouth, almost like he was trying to keep from saying something. 

Finally Uncle Floyd said “I reckon you were trying to help son, but you’ve only made things worse!  You need to step out of the garden . . .  now!

In the parable that Jesus told there were good people, called the ‘children of the kingdom’ and there were  evil people, whom he called the ‘children of the devil’.  The workers in the field asked if they should make the evil people go away and leave the good people alone.  This is sort of like Barabas trying to pull out the bad weeds from the good tomato plants in Uncle Floyd’s garden.

Jesus surprised his disciples when he explained “just let the evil people live amongst the good people.  I will send angels to pull out the bad ones.”  He said this because if WE are the ones pulling out the bad people we might step on some of the good ones and destroy them too!

We need to let GOD decide who is good and who is bad.

“I’m sorry Uncle Floyd.” said Barabas in a small voice.  “I think I’ll let YOU decide which are the good plants and which are the weeds . . .” 

Then Barabas decided he should do the one job he DOES know how to do - clean up the dog poop in the back yard!

THE END

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