Mary & Martha

Lesson: Jesus calls us to rest in Him

1. Story:

• Tell story based on Luke 10:38-42.
• When Jesus visited his two friends, Martha and Mary, they must have been so excited to have Jesus in their house.
• How did Martha react? She wanted to make everything perfect for Jesus. She was so busy preparing the food and cleaning the house for Jesus. She wanted Him to enjoy His time with them.
• But how did Mary react? She was interested in Jesus, in spending time with Him, in hearing Him talk. So she just sat at His feet and listened.
• Martha was rushing everything, and seeing Mary just sitting there made her angry. She complained to Jesus, “My sister left me to do the work by myself! Tell her to help me!”
• Jesus calmed her down. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

2. Lesson: Good News for Today!

• Martha thought Jesus would be pleased with her if she did everything right. She wanted everything to be just nice for Him.
• But in her busyness, she became stressed — “upset and worried” about many things. She also became bitter and angry at people whom she thought wasn’t doing their share of the work. She complained about them.
• But Jesus reminded Martha that He didn’t need all her “doing” to be pleased with her. He was already pleased with her.
• All she needed to do was be like Mary and to just sit and spend time with Him, resting.
• It’s not wrong to want to serve Jesus. In fact, it is good to serve one another. But we cannot serve out of our own strength and we shouldn’t serve because we think it would make God love us more. Doing so would make us upset, worried, bitter and angry. We become tired and burnt out.
• Let’s all learn to rest in Jesus first, to let Him fill us with His love and strength. Then our service and ministry will be an outflow of Him in our lives.
•  Illustration idea: (You may choose to use props etc) Torch light with battery vs Lamp plugged into socket. Once the battery runs out, the torch light will not work anymore. But the lamp is plugged into the power source and will keep on shining. If we do things on our own strength, we are running on our own battery, which will drain out eventually. But if we rest in Jesus, we’re always connected in His strength, which will never run out.
• God promises rest to all of us in Christ Jesus. At the cross, Jesus has done everything for us; He becomes everything for us. When we trust in Him, we can rest and draw on His love, His joy, and His strength every day. And we can serve Him and others with His love, His joy and His strength.
• Memory Verse: Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
• Prayer: Thank you Jesus that we can rest in You because You have done everything for us. Thank you that You love to spend time with us. Thank you that we can draw all we need from You. Thank you that we don’t have to do anything to make You love us more. Thank you for loving me. In Your name we pray, Amen.

3. Activity ideas:

• Quiet time: Play some slow worship songs. Have kids sit a bit apart from each other, close their eyes, keep quiet and just enjoy the music and God’s presence for about 5 -10 minutes (depending on age/attention span).