February 1: Jesus Visits Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42)

February 1: Jesus Visits Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42)

Activity Before Story:

            Hand out play-doh. Allow students to roll it around while the story is being read.

Story (From The Beginners Bible):

Once there were two sisters. One was named Mary. One was named Martha. Jesus was their good friend. He came to see them whenever He was in town.

One time while Jesus was at their house, He had a long talk with Mary. Mary sat by Jesus. She listened and listened. Jesus had so many wonderful things to say. Martha was thinking about other things. She knew there was a lot of work to do. She wanted to get their dinner ready. She wanted to clean the house. She wanted to make a nice bed for Jesus. And while Martha worked, worked, worked, Mary sat and listened.

Finally, Martha got upset. “Jesus,” she said, “Mary is not helping. I am doing all this work by myself. Tell her to come and help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” Jesus said. “You are upset about so many things. Mary is doing something very important. She is listening to me. She chose to do the best thing.”

Summary & Questions:

            While Mary listened to Jesus, what was Martha doing? Why did Martha get upset? Have you ever felt that you were doing the right thing like Martha, and your brother or sister was not? Why did Jesus say that Mary was doing the right thing? Do you think it is more important to fix dinner or talk about God? When we are with our families, we can do both!

Activity After Story:

            Hand out wooden popsicle sticks. Tell students to flatten out the play-doh like a pancake. Tell students to press their palms into the play-doh to create a handprint. Show them how to do it really hard so that fine details will be visible. Ask students what details they notice about their hands. Tell them that our hands make us very different than animal species. We are able to do much with our hands. Ask students if they use their hands to do what God wants them to do. Ask students how they know. “Are we listening and for God?”

            Have the children mush up the play-doh and create and sculpt an ear. Take a minute to talk about how ears are not all alike, just like our talents are not all alike. Talk about the different shapes and sizes of our ears. Have them look at their neighbors’ ears and notice the differences. Pray with the kids and thank God for our hands and ears and for stories in the Bible that teach us so much about the love of God and Jesus. Allow students to play with play-doh for the remainder of the time.