Hello friends and Happy Friday! I hope you had a great week and enjoyed the first two chapters of “The Women of Easter.” Doesn’t Liz have a beautiful way of storytelling?!
Here are this week’s discussion questions:
A Season of Grace
*Can you remember a time in your life when you were like the girl in the yellow dress: completely and utterly worshiping with your offering of surrender?
Chapter 1: Lost in His Love
*Can you relate to Martha in her exasperation with Jesus and her sister Mary? What about her idea that Jesus needed her services?
*Do you believe the differences between Mary and Martha were personality differences or spiritual differences? Jesus obviously cared for both sisters and knew them well, why would He have chosen to call out one for having “chosen what is better”?
Chapter 2: Mary Went to Meet the Lord
*Both Mary and Martha knew that their brother wouldn’t have died if Jesus had been there. Has there been a time in your life when you felt Jesus’ response was “too late”? How did this affect your faith in Him?
*Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead was a show of His power over death and His ability to bring new life. How does this give you hope for dying dreams or relationships in your life that need new life or resurrection brought to them?
Scriptures of the Week
Luke 10:38-42
John 11
Prayer of the Week
Father God, thank You for the new life You offer us. Help us to choose “the better thing” and to come to You with our worship and surrender. We know You are a good God and though we may not always understand Your timing, we know we can trust You. Thank You for loving us, for helping us, and for giving us hope because of Your power over death. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
For Next Week
*Read Chapters 3-4
With Jesus’ resurrection just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to read this book! ☺️
Surrender is an essential aspect of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, as well as our response to Him. I can think of a few times so far in my life where I have been in a state of surrender…I wouldn’t necessarily say I was in worship mode. It was more the understanding that I had to release control and truly walk in faith.
I’ve always seen myself as a Martha – keeping occupied – and relate to her exasperation with Jesus about Mary. I wonder if she really wanted Mary’s help though or just wanted to complain….so much of the time I am so controlling that while more hands may be helpful, I’d rather do it my way (and make sure it’s done “correctly”). 😬
I don’t think Martha thought that Jesus needed her service. Deep down, maybe she was just annoyed at herself for having a hard time being still like her sister (sibling comparison trap, right?! 😆).
I appreciate the author’s mentioning that Jesus loved both sisters the same….I’ve always seen it like He loved Mary more. This was the first time I read the Scriptures correctly when Jesus calls Mary’s choice – not her – better….that’s huge! Like the sisters, we have choices to make; He should be our choice from which all other choices are made.
Our choices start lining up with His choices the more we spend time with Him. There have been times I thought Jesus’ response was “too late”; most of the time this is because I am impatient. 😂 When I’ve known things would take some time, it was really hard to trust God because I knew nothing I could do would hurry things up.
I’m so thankful Jesus not only is the Life, but can bring new life into every area of our lives. There is power in the name of Jesus, and I don’t think we realize this or tap into it as often as we should.
Jesus is all-powerful; we have the choice though to obey in association with/response to that power. I had a random thought just now: what if Lazarus chose not to obey Jesus and instead stayed in the tomb?!
Jesus is Life; He wants us to experience new life in Him. 🤗 How are we going to respond?
This instance with Mary and Martha is so layered! I love that the Bible gives us this story. It’s so interesting to me that Martha went to Jesus to have him get Mary to help. I think Martha wanted Jesus to know that she was “doing” so much for Him and was being overlooked and possibly felt resentment that Mary was getting all the attention. I think that makes a lot of sense that she was probably annoyed with her own self too!
What I always struggled with regarding Lazarus’ story was Jesus knowing that the sisters would be suffering during this in-between time (between death and his resurrection). He knew they would be suffering and yet He knew it had to happen too. That’s where trust comes in. Knowing that God is love and all that He does is out of love even when we are suffering and feeling pain. So tough… but I love that Martha and Mary each had their moment with Jesus as well and that He took that time to be with each of them individually. It’s comforting to know that He knows and loves each of us intimately and uniquely and is with us through it all. I’ve often thought Jesus’ timing was off and have had to learn to trust Him in His timing.