Unit 2: Ministry of Christ--Lesson 9 NT2.9 Jesus Visits Mary and Martha

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1 1 Unit 2: Ministry of Christ--Lesson 9 NT2.9 Jesus Visits Mary and Martha Scripture: Luke 10:38-42 Lesson Goal: Jesus had three special friends--mary, Martha, and Lazarus. One day Jesus visited them and taught them how to make good choices in life. Students will understand that God doesn't want us to get so busy that we forget to talk to Him and to read and study His Word so that we can better learn to know Him. Introduction: This is the ninth lesson in Unit 2:The Ministry of Christ. The life and ministry of Jesus is told to us in the first four books of the New Testament. Jesus had three special friends--mary, Martha, and Lazarus. One day Jesus visited them and taught them how to make good choices in life. This lesson is found in the book of Luke. This book is part of the four books called the Gospels in the New Testament. The word Gospel means the "Good News about Jesus." The Gospels tell the life and ministry of Jesus while He was here on earth. Let's say the names of the gospels--matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Attention Getter: "What are some things you really like about your friends? Friends like to be together, don't they? Usually they like to play the same games. Friends can be on the same soccer team. Friends like to go to the same places. They have fun together. Friends do things together and help each other. They are kind to each other. Sometimes friends even spend the night with each other! Jesus had three good friends that He loved to visit. Their names were Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. In this lesson we will learn Jesus taught one of his friends an important lesson about spending time with Him. Opening Prayer: Let's pray, "Dear Father in heaven, Thank you for giving us this lesson in the Bible today about choosing to put you first. Forgive us for too often being like Martha. We get caught up in doing things that are good but are not the BEST. Help us to choose to listen to you every day. Help us to read our Bible, pray, and share the good news about Jesus with others. Thank you for saving us and giving us eternal life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Memory Verse: Our memory verse is Psalm 119:10 " I seek you with my all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands." Lesson Video: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were friends of Jesus. Mary and Martha were sisters and Lazarus was their brother. They lived in Bethany, a quiet little town near Jerusalem. Bethany is just below the Mount of Olives. Jesus and his disciples spent much time traveling from town to town, Much of Jesus' preaching was along the Jordan River and Bethany was not far away. When He needed to rest, Jesus would visit His friends. Because Jesus didn't have a home of His own, He must have been very happy that His friends liked to have Him visit. Today Jesus was coming to Bethany and he was going to stop to visit Mary and Martha. Mary and Martha were happy to see Jesus because they loved Him very much. Right away Mary and Martha got busy. They had a lot of cleaning to do so Martha brought out her broom to sweep the dust from the floor. They had to go get water from the well, bake the bread, and wash the grapes! So much to do! Martha probably wanted to cook a delicious meal for Jesus. Perhaps she found her favorite recipes and started to stir and bake. She probably measured everything carefully so her food would taste just right. She wanted to please Jesus. Martha hustled and bustled around the house to finish the work before Jesus came. She was trying so hard to make everything perfect. Suddenly out of the distance came Jesus and his friends. Mary shouted, "Martha, Martha, Jesus is here!" "Oh, no!" thought Martha, "I haven't finished everything!" Martha stayed in the kitchen while Mary ran to greet him. Mary was so happy to see Jesus that she hugged him and say, "Come in, come in!"

2 As Jesus and the other guests came in, Martha continued to hurry around, making sure that everyone's feet were washed and that everyone was comfortable. She ran back and forth with bowls of water and plates of grapes and olives. Suddenly Martha stopped and looked around. "Where is Mary?" she wondered as she continued to hurry to get everything ready for Jesus. Martha probably set the table with her prettiest dishes. And she poured cool water for Jesus to drink. She wanted to do her best for Jesus. Now in Bible times women were not usually in the room where a group of men sat. They usually came in and out with food and drink for the men, perhaps listening while they worked. As Martha entered the room where Jesus and the other guests were she looked over--and there was Mary! Mary was sitting very still at Jesus' feet, listening to everything He said! It was so wonderful just to be near Jesus! Mary had forgotten about everything else but listening to Him! She wanted to hear every word Jesus had to say. Martha grumbled to herself as she worked to finish getting dinner ready. "Why isn't Mary helping me?" She was getting more and more upset with Mary. Martha had forgotten that the BEST thing was the fact that Jesus had come to visit with them! Finally, Martha couldn't stand it any longer. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" Jesus understood how Martha felt. It might seem unfair to have Martha do all the work while Mary just sat and listened to Jesus. But Jesus was not angry with Martha. Gently He turned to busy Martha and said, "Martha, you are worried about so many things. Mary is doing the most important thing. She is listening to what I am saying. You should never be too busy to listen to Me." Jesus was glad that Martha had wanted to honor him and He knew that Martha loved Him, but Jesus did not want her to forget WHY she had gone to all this trouble. That's why Jesus said that Mary had chosen the best part--her actions not only showed her love for Jesus but also showed how much she wanted to get to know Him. Mary was more pleasing to Jesus than Martha. Jesus is pleased with us when we take time to listen to His words. It was easy for Mary and Martha to think of ways to show love for Jesus because He was coming to their house for a visit. But today we show our love for Jesus in different ways. Sometimes we're so busy doing lots of good things that we forget about doing things that show love for Jesus. Jesus is glad when we do good things, but He also wants us to spend our time getting to know Him. How do we do that? We can talk to Him any time through prayer. We can read a verse or two in the Bible and think about it during the day. We can tell others about Jesus and how He came to save them. These are the ways to put the best things first--loving Jesus and getting to know Him. 2 We all have friends who we like to be with and who treat us in good ways. but no matter how good our friends are, they can't always understand us or do what is best for us. Jesus is our perfect friend who always understands how we feel and cares for us in ways that are the very best. Jesus loves us so much, He wants us to get to know Him better and talk with Him about everything! He promises to listen and answer our prayers. Remember let's show our love for Jesus by putting Him first and getting to know Him! Review Questions: "Choose a Friend" Say: Jesus had three friends--mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Today we are going to work as "friends" to answer our review questions." Have students pair up with a friend to answer these questions. If your class has an uneven number suggest that three students be "friends." Take turns with groups of children answering the questions. Encourage the children to "collaborate" with their friends to come up with one answer. 1. What town did Mary and Martha and Lazarus live in? (Bethany) 2. Who was the special guest? (Jesus) 3. Why did Jesus need a place to rest and visit? (Jesus did not have a home of his own.) 4. What book of the Bible tells this story about Jesus? (Luke) What section of the Bible is this book found? (The gospels which tell the life and ministry of Jesus.) 5. What was Mary doing that surprised Martha? Why was this especially different? (Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus and women at time did not ordinarily sit in a room and listen to men teach.) 6. What was Martha upset about? (Mary was not helping her with the dinner preparations.) 7. How were Mary and Martha the same? How were they different? (They were sisters and they loved Jesus and enjoyed having Him come to visit them. They were different in how they acted when Jesus was

3 visiting with them. Martha was more concerned about preparing things for Him and Mary was more concerned with building a relationship with Jesus by listening to Him.) 8. What did you learn from Mary and her actions and Martha and her actions? (Relationships are more important than things.) 9. What did Jesus say about the choices that Mary and Martha had made? ("Martha, you are worried about so many things. Mary is doing the most important thing. She is listening to what I am saying. You should never be too busy to listen to Me.") 10. What does our memory verse Psalm 119:10 say we should do? (To seek God with all our heart and obey Him.) 11. What does it mean to "seek God with all our heart"? (To do our best to show love for God in what we do; by spending time learning about Him; by obeying Him and by talking with Him.) 12. How can you remember to show love for God and get to know Him? (Set aside a special time each day to read God's Word and to pray. Pray and ask God help you to develop the discipline to follow Him each day.) Bible Memory Verse Activity: Masking Tape Our memory verse is Psalm 119:10 " I seek you with my all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands." Being with Jesus and learning to obey His Word is pleasing to Him. Have students locate the verse in scripture. Read the verse together. Repeat it several times in unison. Preparation: Print Psalm 119:10 on masking tape with enough space between the words to tear them into separate pieces or phrases if you have a smaller number of students than words in the verse. Lightly place the separate pieces of tape on the undersides of chairs or tables or on the walls around your classroom. In the same manner print the following paraphrase on masking tape, but do not distribute the pieces: "I'm doing my best to get to know You and love You. Help me do the good things You tell me to do." Procedure: Have the students find the words you've hidden around the classroom; then students should open their Bible to Psalm 119:10 and put the pieces in order, taping them to the table or floor. Say: "What do you think it means to seek God with all your heart? (Volunteers tell ideas.) Now find some of tape pieces which say this verse in a way which helps us understand it better. (Students find paraphrase pieces and put in order and compare to the verse.) "What are some of the way we get to know God? (Read the Bible; Pray; Listen to what others say about Him.) What are some things you enjoy doing on the weekends? after dinner in the evening? (Volunteers tell ideas.) Keep thinking today about the ways in which we spend our time and how we can make more time to know God and show our love for Him." Bible Memory Verse Activity: Ear Bible Bookmark (Grades K-2) Print the page of ear outlines on cardstock so each child in your class has an ear shape. Have students cut out the large ear outline. Students are to write the memory verse on the ear bookmark. Say: "Today we are making an ear bookmark. Use this bookmark to remind you that reading your Bible is one way to listen to Jesus. Group Learning Activity: Jesus' Feet (Grades K-3) Print a copy of the template of Jesus' Feet for each child in your class. Have students color the feet and cut them out. Let students decorate them as they would like. While they are coloring their feet, ask them some questions. Say: "What does the phrase mean "to sit at someone's feet all day long? What will we see? What will we hear? What will we learn about that person?" Explain that it would be hard to be right by someone all day long and not learn quite a lot about him or her. "When Jesus came to visit, Mary began to sit at His feet and listen to Him. Wouldn't it be wonderful to sit at Jesus' feet a few hours! Did you know that when you ask Jesus into your heart He comes and lives inside of you. You can sit at Jesus' feet and listen to Him through His Word the Bible anytime you want. He is always available to us." Group Learning Activity: Photo Shots (Grades K-6) Bring a digital camera to class and take pictures of each child. Say: "One of my hobbies is photography. I love to take pictures. I brought my camera with me this morning and I would like to take a picture. Who would like for me to take their picture? OK. (choose one of the children) Now, Susie, smile while I take your picture. (Hold the camera up facing toward yourself and snap the photo.) All right! I'm sure I got a very good picture of Susie. Do you think so? You don't? Why not? (Look at the photo results if you used a digital camera.) Oh, I had the camera 3

4 focused on me instead of on Susie, didn't I? Well, let's try again. (Take another picture, but this time focus the camera on Susie.) There, I'm sure the results were much better this time. (Show the results if using a digital camera.) "When taking pictures, it is very important to make sure you are focused on the right thing. I was pretty foolish to try to take a picture of Susie with the camera focused on me rather than on Susie, wasn't I? In our daily life, it is important that we focus on the right thing too. Sometimes, we forget what is important and we focus on all the wrong things. That is what our Bible lesson teaches us today." Print the photographs of each child and bring them next week to give to them or put them on a bulletin board in your classroom. Children love to look at themselves and others that they know! Group Learning Activity: Too Much, Too Loud! (Grades 3-5) Have students scatter around the room. Give a paper grocery sack to each child. Have the children put the sacks over their heads so they can't see! Say: I'm going to go around and tap everyone's bag, one at a time. When I tap your bag, I'll make a noise I want you to repeat. After I have given everyone a noise to make, I'll ring a bell, and you will begin repeating your noise. You'll have to make the noise loudly so that others had hear. Move carefully around the room and find the other people who are making your noise. Then sit down with them. Don't say any words; just make your noise." Make sure you give the same noise to three different groups. The noise doesn't matter as long as you do the same thing for all three. Noises such as a creaking door, a car engine, "Here, kitty, kitty!" are good ones to choose. Ring the bell and let the noises begin. When all groups have formed, ring the bell again to end the activity. Say: "Take your sacks off now and see who your fellow "disturbances" are. Stay in your group and answer my questions: What was it like when you were trying to find your group? (You had to pay close attention to the sounds.) Why did you want to find your group? (I didn't want to be left out. I didn't want to be the only one going around making a funny noise.) "In this game you had to listen for a special sound to find your group. In real life we need to be listening to Jesus who will always guide us to the right way. Mary listened to Jesus and He guided her to the right way to live." Group Learning Activity: "Walk and Talk" Clock (Grades K-2) Print the numerals of a clock on separate sheets of construction paper. Tape the numerals down on the floor to form a large circle. Have children stand on one paper for each student. Play a "walking" song on a CD and have the students move around the clock like a cake walk. When the music stops, have each student tell the hour of the day on which he or she is standing. Each student is to tell a way to get to know God at that time of the day. Help students think of responses by asking the following questions: "What might you do in the morning to remind yourself of what God's Word says? What might you talk to God about at that time of the day? How could you take time in the evening to learn more about God?" Print their answers on a poster pad sheet or on the white board. Repeat the activity as time permits. Say: "These are all ways that we can use to do what our memory verse, Psalm 119:10 talks about." Group Learning Activity: Timeline of Jesus' Life Preparation: Print the following references on index cards, one reference on each card: Luke 2:6,7; Luke 2:42,43; Luke 3:21,22; Luke 4:1,2; Luke 4:38,39; Luke 7:11-17; Luke 19:35-37; Luke 19:45, 46; Luke 22:52, 54; Luke 23:33, 34; Luke 24: 1-3; Luke 24: 34, 35; Luke 24: 50, 51. Make a 5 foot long line on the wall, whiteboard or chalkboard with masking tape. Say: "Time lines show the order of things that have happened. The book of Luke tells events that happened in Jesus' life. What event did we learn about from Luke in our lesson today? Let's see if we can find other events in Jesus' life from the book of Luke and put them in order on a time line." Distribute the index cards you prepared with the memory verse references above. Students are to find the references in their Bibles and write on the backs of their index cards a sentence about the event described in their verses. Students are to take turn reading the sentences aloud. "Which of these events happened first in Jesus' life?" Guide students to determine the event that happened earliest in Jesus' life. Student with that card tapes card at the beginning of the masking tape time line. Continue until all the cards are in order, referring to the chapter and verse numbers on the backs of their cards. (If you have more than 13 students, group the students in pairs or small groups to find the references. If you have fewer than 13 students, give some students more than one card. 4

5 Craft Learning Activity: Fingerprint Posters (Grades 1-5) Make a sample poster by making thumb prints and fingerprints to form the letters in a poster that describes a way you enjoy getting to know God. Examples of the poster titles would be: Talk the Talk; Walk the Walk; read the Bible; Pray at all times; Obey God, etc." Provide a length of a roll of white wrapping paper or white tablecloth paper, stamp pads and disposable wipes for each child. Students are to use thumbs and/or fingers to make prints on paper to form each letter. Students make prints on the paper by gently stamping their thumb to the ink pad or by rubbing a marker across their finger. You can provide stamp and color markers or bingo markers for students to use. As students are working on their posters ask them where they might display their posters at home. Students are to take home the completed posters as reminders of ways to get to know God. Craft Learning Activity: Mary and Martha Figures (Grades K-3) Print the template of the outline of the figure of Mary and Martha on cardstock. Give two blank figures to each child--one for Mary and one for Martha. Have students cut out the figures. Using colored markers students are to add the facial features--hair, eyes, nose, mouth, head covering, and decorate the top of their dress as desired. Give each child three 6-8" lengths of colored wrapping ribbon to glue to the "waist of the dress." The ribbons should be different colors so the students can make unique dresses for Mary and Martha. Encourage the students to use their completed figures to retell the story of Jesus visiting Mary and Martha by acting out how each woman responded differently to Jesus. Group Learning Activity: Finger Play: (Grades K-2) The following finger play works well with the Mary and Martha figures above. It is similar to "Where Is Thumbkin?" Have the children mimic your actions. Then teach them the words. Here is Martha. ("Walk" one thumb.) Here is Martha. (Walk one thumb.) Watch her work. (Make "binocular" eyes.) Watch her work. (Make binocular eyes.) She is always scrubbing. (Pretend to scrub.) She is always stirring. (Pretend to stir.) For her friend Jesus. (Point up.) For her friend Jesus. (Point up.) Here is Mary. ("Walk" the other thumb.) Here is Mary. (Walk the other thumb.) She's so calm. (Put your finger to your lips.) She's so still. (Stand very still.) Listening to Jesus. (Cup your ear with your hand.) Listening to Jesus. (Cup your ear with your hand.) His words are dear. (Cross your hand on your heart.) His words are dear. (Cross your hand on your heart.) Here is Jesus. ("Walk" your pointer finger.) Here is Jesus. (Walk your pointer finger.) He loves Martha. (Hug yourself.) He loves Mary. (Hug yourself.) But Mary chose what's best. (Wiggle the "Mary" thumb.) But Mary chose what's best. (Wiggle the "Mary" thumb.) She listened to him. (Cup your ear with your hand.) She listened to him. (Cup your ear with your hand.) 5

6 6 Craft Learning Activity: Countdown Clock (Grades K-2) Preparations: Paper plate for each child; round stickers; two clock hands cut from construction paper; and a paper brad. Give students the above items. Help them assemble the clock. For younger children you can pre-mark the paper plate as to where the number stickers go. Older students can use a marker to write the numerals on the stickers. Have students write "Always Make Time for Jesus" in the center of the clock. As students are working on their clocks, remind them that Jesus rebuked Martha for being upset with Mary. Jesus pointed out that Mary chose what was better; spending time with Him. Encourage students to be like Mary and spend quality time at the Lord s feet. This time could be spent praying, singing praises, reading the Bible, etc. Many of us are like Martha. We run around doing things for the Lord, but don t spend enough time with the Lord. Life Application Challenge: Time to Follow Print out the "Time to Follow Jesus" page--one for each child in your class. Say: "One of the best ways we can make sure we have time to listen to Jesus is to set aside time in our busy schedules. I've given you a handout with a calendar for next week. On your calendar write at least three things you already know you'll have to do next week. Those activities are your "Martha" activities. This is stuff you know you'll have to get done. Maybe you have a test at school, a music lesson, or certain chores you have to do at home. After you've written your "Martha" activities, think about some "Mary" things you can do to follow Jesus. On the clocks below the calendar write at least one activity that you will do to follow Jesus this week. Put the hands on the clock to tell what time you plan to do this activity. Maybe you will set aside time to pray, read your Bible, go to church, or ask questions to learn more about Jesus. Encourage children to make "listening to Jesus" a priority by eliminating something less important that you usually do, such as watching a particular TV show or renting a movie. Use that time to read and talk about important things Jesus has to say. Good scripture to discuss would be Matthew 5:1-12; Matthew 5: 38-41; or Matthew 6: Take your calendars and clocks home to remind you to be sure follow through on putting Jesus first in your life!

7 7 Jesus Visits Mary and Martha Psalm 119:10 " I seek you with my all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands."

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11 First Things First Choose one of the sentences hidden in the border that tell something you want to do to get to know God. Draw a picture of yourself doing that activity. 11

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