Welcome to Week 1 of our Women of Easter study! What a beautiful book this is! I hope you are enjoying it!

The first chapter opens up with the sad news that Lazarus was very sick, even dying, and the sisters called out to Jesus to come. What was Jesus’ response? He tarried! These were extremely close friends of Jesus. Didn’t He care? Shouldn’t He have rushed over as quickly as possible? However, Jesus had another plan. He was about to show out big time! Oh, what He has in store for Lazarus and for this family! Before then, however, let’s go back in time and get to know the sisters a little better. We’ll start today with the one who seems to be in charge, Martha.

We go back to a famous moment in history when Jesus brought his disciples to the house of his good friends, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. The first thing we observe is that Martha is busy with preparations while Mary is sitting as Jesus’ feet and not helping her sister with the chores. Martha was indignant and snapped at Jesus, the very one she was supposed to be serving, and demanded that He do something about her lazy sister, Mary. However, Jesus told her that she was upset about so many things, and that Mary had chosen the greater thing, the only thing that really mattered. This would not be taken away from her!

Something that is interesting to me is that while Martha was the one serving Jesus, Luke 10:40 says that she was distracted, overly occupied, too busy. I think we all get that as we imagine her running back and forth and fretting over all the details of meal preparation and house work. As a fellow-perfectionist, I know that familiar frustration over never seeming to get everything just right. However, her work wasn’t just busy work. She wasn’t neglecting Jesus; she was working specifically for Him.

She was the one putting in all the effort to show hospitality to Jesus and make Him feel at home. It wasn’t like she was being an ogre or a spaz! She was doing a good thing.

Isn’t that like us sometimes? We justify our lack of balance by saying that we are at least working for the Lord. We think that makes us more like Mary. After all, she set the example of putting the Lord first, and we assume that is what we are doing as well with our crazy schedule of church work. But, oh how that is mixed up!

There is quite a difference between working for the Lord and sitting as His feet. This physical, as well as spiritual, posture of sitting at the teacher’s feet embodies humility, devotion, respect, and whole-hearted attention toward one’s teacher. There is focus and affection and submission. However, when we are overly busy with the work of the Lord without allowing Him to replenish our spirits, the first thing to go is usually intimacy in relationship. We can become so burnt out, even working for ministry, that we may be shocked when we wonder how our hearts had drifted so far from the heart of the Father. I have seen so many ministers become disillusioned and give up on ministry because they had these things mixed up.

About seven years ago, I had been seeking God about direction for my next steps in ministry. I wasn’t hearing anything and wanted directions for the next project to dive into. Finally, this is what I heard, “Abide in the Vine.” I thought, now that is weird! No one talks like that, and how do I do something so abstract? The Holy Spirit directed me to read and reread John 15, and verse 5 became my theme for about two years.

 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 NLT

I realized that Jesus was saying to cultivate relationship with Him, learn from Him, and sit at His feet like Mary, instead of being so focused on what task to do next. He then taught me that direction for ministry stems naturally from my relationship with Him, and that is how my current ministry was born. I just focused on being in love with God and drawing close to Him, learning all I can from Him, and He began opening doors and leading me into new and exciting places.

At the beginning of 2017, God impressed this message upon my heart again. He reminded me to not allow myself to get out of balance while giving my all in service to Him that I lose intimacy with Him. My word for this year is “devoted” because I want to remember that my devotion to Him trumps any busyness that tried to consume me, even busyness for ministry. Relationship always comes first!

I said all of this to introduce our first Mary from this book study, Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. The most effective way I have found to understand her example was to begin by contrasting her with our harried sister, Martha. My hope is that every one of us can learn to truly sit at Jesus’ feet and to find real balance in our lives.

This entire interaction revealed much about the personalities of these two women as well as their relationship with Jesus, thus increasing our understanding of the events surrounding the resurrection of Lazarus.

When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick and dying, his first reaction was to wait around for a couple of days before going. Jesus let his best friends suffer with grief for several days before coming to the rescue. However, that is because He had a greater plan that would reveal His glory and prove Him as the resurrection and the life! We will dive deeply into this part of the story this week in our small groups, but the main point I want to get across to us this week is that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. If He can raise the dead and arise victorious over death, hell, and the grave, He can surely speak life into our difficult situations. He can revive what has died in our lives. Turn to Jesus and find new life!

Week 1 Discussion Questions

Here is a sneak peek of this week’s small group discussion questions:

But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42 NASB

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you… James 4:8 ESV

QUESTION 1: As we have delved into the life of Mary and learned from her example, let us consider how we too can learn to sit at Jesus’ feet. What are some changes we can make in our lives to cultivate a deeper relationship with Christ? Or, what are some things we are doing well to cultivate a deeper relationship with Christ?

So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.” … So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days. John 11:3,5-6 NLT

We know that Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and yet He allowed them to suffer for several days when He could have stopped it. He stayed for two extra days on purpose! However, He did it for a reason, to accomplish a miracle that would outdo anything any of these people had ever seen before – the resurrection of the dead after four days!

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7 NIV

QUESTION 2: What is a trial you have withstood that tested and refined your faith? How did you sense God’s purpose in it all?

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” John 11:27 NIV

Martha has quite a reputation in women’s Bible study circles! Her name has become synonymous with the overworked, stressed out, grumpy, exhausted, and underappreciated woman we all strive not to become. However, when her brother Lazarus died, and Jesus hadn’t been there to save him, her reaction to Jesus was quite telling about her faith. She was the very one to proclaim that yes indeed, she believed that He is “the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the word.” (John 11:27).

QUESTION 3: How does her proclamation either change or reinforce your perception of Martha? Have you ever had such a test of your faith, and yet you still proclaimed that Jesus is Lord?

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

Jesus wept. John 11:33-35 NIV

QUESTION 4: What a picture of the compassion and love Jesus had for his friends! How does it make you feel to know that Jesus feels your pain and experiences your emotions right along with you? How does it feel to know that Jesus is moved by the things that touch your heart, and that He weeps when you weep?

Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” John 11:43-44 NLT

QUESTION 5: Can you imagine the awe and amazement of the onlookers as Lazarus walked out of the grave? Have you ever witnessed a miracle? Describe it.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies.” John 11:25 NASB

QUESTION 6: How do these words of Jesus encourage you that Jesus can bring life into our personal circumstances? For the revival of a shattered dream, the rebirth of a dead relationship, the longing for an answered prayer, or the restoration of a loss in your life?

How This Works

• Register by leaving a comment below, if you haven’t already. Tell us where you are from and what you hope to glean from this study.
• Subscribe to this site to receive future updates by email. Enter your email address in the field to the right, and then click the subscribe button.
• Join our closed Facebook group, Heart to Heart Women’s Bible Study, for weekly interaction, activities, videos, and small group sessions. Closed means that no one will be able to see our posts unless they are members of the group. This is for your safety and privacy.
• Small Groups: Look for the schedule for small groups pinned to the top of the Facebook group, Heart to Heart Women’s Bible Study. All you need to do is show up, and the discussion will take place underneath the group photo. Here is our current schedule:
• Follow my ministry page on Facebook, Shari Lewis Ministries, to stay up-to-date on ministry events and for daily prayers, nuggets of wisdom and encouragement for your life, photos that you are welcome to share, and faith building blog posts to strengthen you in your walk with Christ.
• Purchase a study book and follow the reading and group schedule. I also recommend also having a journal or a spiral notebook handy for notes.
  • The Women of Easter: Kindle, Hard Cover, or Audible, from Amazon
  • The Women of Easter: from Lifeway Bookstore
  • The Women of Easter: Hard Cover, eBook, Audible, from Christianbook.com
• Videos will be provided on our Facebook page each week. These are optional but will provide extra insights to our reading.

Reading Schedule

• March 20-26, Week 1:Read chapters 1 and 2, “Lost in His Love,” and “Mary Went to Meet the Lord.”
  • Small groups: Introduction. No need to ready anything ahead of time.
• March 27 – April 2, Week 2:Read chapters 3 and 4, “I Still Would Choose the Better Part,” and “With Palms Before Thee”
  • Small groups: Discuss Week 1, chapters 1 and 2
• April 3-9, Week 3:Read chapters 5 and 6, “O Most Afflicted!” and “Thorns Thine Only Crown”
  • Small groups: Discuss Week 2, chapters 3 and 4
• April 10-16, Week 4:Read chapters 7 and 8
  • Small groups: Discuss Week 3, chapters 5 and 6
• April 17-23, Week 5:
  • Small groups: Discuss Week 4, chapters 7 and 8

I am praying that you have an awesome week of Bible study! I hope to see you in one of our small groups this week!

God bless!