We are currently teaching through the ‘encounters’ section of the ministry of Jesus, and this week’s encounter is with a Mary and her sister Martha. (Luke 10:38-42).
While only 5 verses in length, this is a POWERFUL lesson on THE most important, aspect of following Jesus. That is: FOLLOW Him by SPENDING QUALITY TIME with Him.
Martha was not wrong in wanting to do good things, but Mary understood that the even higher priority was to SPEND TIME with JESUS.
This is particularly important, given that Jesus taught often and strongly that those who follow Him DO good works. And our culture is often works-based. However, this story teaches, with perfect clarity, that good works flow from a heart made whole by Jesus, and not the other way around!
This week’s craft is a ‘mini Bible.’ The point of the craft is to help teach the point that, when we want to be like Mary and spend time with Jesus to deepen our relationship with Him, we do it through prayer and reading the Bible.
Hope in preparing for this lesson, all of you will have time to SPEND TIME with JESUS!
Memory Verse: Come near to God and he will come near to you. James 4:8
Handout: Jesus Visits Mary and Martha
Craft: Create a ‘mini-Bible’
Narrative:
Jesus was friends with Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus (this is the same Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead). They lived in a place called Bethany which is a small town near Jerusalem. One day, Jesus went to their house to visit Mary and Martha.
On the day that Jesus visited, Martha’s wanted to be a good hostess. She wanted to serve the best meal with the best possible presentation, for Jesus’ sake. Cooking and preparing a meal takes a lot of work; it requires gathering all the ingredients, preparing them, mixing them, then watching over the dishes as they cook. Martha had her hands full!
While Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made, Mary was taking time out to BE WITH to Jesus. She sat at Jesus’ feet listening to what He taught. She wanted to talk to Him and learn from Him.
Feeling overwhelmed by the work to be done, and watching her sister JUST SIT THERE, Martha became upset and spoke abruptly to Jesus. She said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
Martha was suggesting that Jesus did not care about her, and she gave the Lord a command, demanding that He force Mary to assist in the serving. In her busyness, Martha had taken her eyes off the Savior. Jesus, who was able to see into her soul, could see that she was worried and troubled about the serving and had no peace in her heart. He gently told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
In this, Jesus taught that THE MOST IMPORTANT THING we can do is SPEND TIME WITH JESUS. Mary was able to actually spend time with Jesus in the flesh. And Jesus knew that a time would soon come when He would return to Heaven to make final preparations for the NEW Kingdom of God. And He knew that many of His followers would not be able to spend time with Him physically, but could spend time with Him by READING HIS WORD (THE BIBLE), AND PRAYING. Any time that we spend time with Jesus by praying and reading the Bible which teaches us who He is, what He has done, and what that means for us, we are like Mary – we are spending time that is never wasted, and the benefit of that time CAN NEVER BE TAKEN AWAY!