Mary and Martha decide to serve Jesus

All Activity Sheets

key words

options choices interests

biblical reference

Luke 10:38-42

lesson objective

To help the children understand that at times they must decide the best among various options.

memory verse

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33, NIV*).

prepare yourself to teach

Elementary children are in the process of developing skills and recognizing their individual interests. They need to understand that God gave them their abilities as a gift. However, they are responsible for making good use of those gifts and talents.

It is possible that many elementary children need guidance to recognize their talents. Once identified, they can discover the joy of using their time and abilities to please and serve God.

biblical commentary

Luke 10:38-42. The two women in this story had different abilities, and decided to use their time in different ways. Martha was the hostess. The preparation of the food and its service were motivated by her hospitality and love. But, she took care of that more than she should.

On the other hand, Mary chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen carefully. She was more concerned about learning from the Master than about serving the food.

Martha was distracted by all the preparations she thought necessary for the Lord’s visit. When she complained to Jesus about her sister’s lack of help, he reminded her with great love that she should prioritize the most important issues. Jesus recognized that Martha wanted to help him, but he helped her see that she was allowing the superficial to hinder the spiritual. By prioritizing other matters, her communion with the Lord was hindered.

Commentator Bruce Larson says: “History really is about our goals in life. What occupies most of our time? Martha was focused on her own goal. She was so busy trying to be an excellent hostess that she did not have time to be with the Lord. We may say that everything we have - time, life, money, etc., is from the Lord. But do we dedicate time? Maybe we are very busy doing good deeds, but we forget that the most important thing is our relationship with him.”

As we study this lesson, let us make Jesus our priority. We will discover that he is the key to everything.

introduce the lesson

What kind of influence?

This activity will help your children identify two kinds of influences.

Before the meeting, cut out squares of green and red paper, one of each color for each child.

Distribute the squares to the group, and read the following statements aloud. Ask the children to raise their red square if the statement talks about bad influences and the green square if it is about good influences.

• Mark helped clean the room when his mother asked him to. Then, he helped his

younger sister pick up her things.

• Natalia saw a television program in which a child spoke to her parents in a disrespectful way, so she decided to do the same when her parents told her to do something.

• John, when leaving school, had to go straight to his house but his friends invited him to go to the park. He thought he could play for a while and go home before his parents arrived, so no one would notice.

• Liliana taught her little sister to sing the song “Jesus loves me”.

• Irma invited her best friend to come spend the night at her house. In the morning, Irma’s mother woke them up early to go to church. Irma asked, “Do we have to go today? We wanted to play in the park. “

• Edward saw that his friend was bothering a younger child in the park. So he went over to tell him that if he wanted to have friends, he should be kind to others.

God’s gifts

For this activity, you will need an instrument or music box, a paintbrush, a ball and a book.

Place the objects on a table, and tell your children: God gave us all special gifts that are called gifts or talents (show the objects). Talk to them about the gifts that each object represents, and how or where we can put them into use. Write on the board the gifts and talents they mention (for example, service, talents for music, sports, crafts, etc.).

Tell them that in today’s story we will learn more about that topic.

teach the lesson

We suggest you invite two young women from your congregation to represent Martha and Mary. Get two tunics or fabrics to make the staging more real. Ask them to tell the Bible story from each character’s point of view, and let each one tell how she expressed her love for Jesus.

Mary and Martha decide to serve Jesus

“Look, there’s Bethany,” said one of the disciples. That is where Martha and her family live. Maybe we could rest awhile at their house.

“That is a good idea!” affirmed Jesus.

They arrived at Martha’s house.

“Jesus!” Martha exclaimed as she opened the door. “What a nice surprise! Please come in.”

Martha called her sister. “Mary, come quickly! Jesus and his friends are here!”

“Surely they will be very tired,” said Martha. “Sit down and rest. I’ll prepare something for you to eat.”

Martha hurried and went to plan what she was going to cook. “I have to make a very special meal for Jesus,” she said to herself, and thought about what she would need to feed everyone.

Then, she worked hard preparing the food and cleaning the house. She was concerned because she wanted to serve them very well.

While Martha prepared the food, Jesus sat down to talk with his disciples. Mary, Martha’s sister, sat at the feet of Jesus to listen to what he was saying.

After a while, Martha came to where everyone was and saw that Mary was sitting, listening to the words of Jesus. She was so busy working, so she got very angry because her sister was not helping her.

“Jesus, Mary has left me alone doing the work. Please, tell her to help me!” said Martha. “Martha, Martha,” Jesus answered. “You are very worried and busy with the small things. Only one thing is necessary and important, and Mary has discovered it. She chose the most important thing, and nobody can take it away.”

The most important

Briefly, review the Bible story, and ask your group: What was the most important thing that Mary chose? (Spend time with Jesus).

Emphasize that there is time to do work for Jesus, and time to be alone with him. It is important to use our talents to serve the Lord, but they should never replace our time of prayer and communion with him.

connect the lesson

Let us use our gifts!

This activity will help them put their gifts into practice and use their talents.

Give a specific job to each member of your group, based on their talent or ability. For example, those who have the gift of service will pick up the offering and organize the materials when the meeting ends. On the other hand, those who have the ability to do manual work will help the children and the teacher when necessary. Others can lead the singing time, or receive the visitors that arrive and attend to them.

No matter what task you assign to children, remind them that all the work we do for God is important and valuable.

practice the memory verse

Download Additional Memory Verse Activities PDF

Download Suggestions for Bible Memorization PDF

Ask your group to sit in a circle, and you stand in the center. Lightly throw a soft object to them. The child who catches it should stand up and say the memory verse. Repeat the exercise so that all your children participate. Help the little ones or those who have difficulty with memorization.

Activity: Decide to use your gifts

Pass out Student Activity Sheet #163-A and #163-B. Based on the Bible story, ask your children to circle the phrases on Student Activity Sheet #163-A that represent the way Martha and Mary decided to serve Jesus. Then, give them time to color the drawing, and follow the instructions to complete Student Activity Sheet #163-B. As they work, emphasize the importance of recognizing and putting our talents and abilities at God’s service.

wrap-up

Pray

Pray giving thanks to God for the gifts you all have received, and ask Him to help you use them for His service.

Encourage

Sing a song that deals with the subject of the lesson. Remind the group that God gave them gifts and talents that will help them serve Him better.

Invite

Tell the children something interesting about the next session and invite them to attend. Be sure to thank those who invited friends to join the group.

* Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™