Talitha Cumi! – Time to Awaken
A few days ago I had an email from someone I don’t know who felt that they had a prophetic word for the church but they felt it specifically applied to Grace Church. Whilst I didn’t know the person who sent this message, they are known within the Commission and Newfrontiers family and so that gave some assurance. As I have been contemplating this word it does resonate with me and so I thought I would share it with you too. It is taken from the Mark 5 passage which gives us the story of Jairus and his daughter. Here is the Bible passage.
Jesus Raises a Dead Girl and Heals a Sick Woman (Mark 5)
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Overhearing[c] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.
Here is the prophetic word
“I felt God spoke to me through this story, with each character representing a different group of people today. Jarius was a leader in the synagogue, he represents not only the leaders of the church but those who intercede, prophecy, teach and serve in the church. His daughter represents the church and the people in the crowd/woman with the issue of blood represent those outside church seeking Jesus, perhaps reaching out to him but afraid to identify themselves.
Jarius comes to find Jesus because his daughter is 'sick and dying' and needs to be restored. In this time when we feel the church needs restoration, those with a passion/responsibility for the church need to seek out Jesus and invite him to our house, intercede, pray and ask for his presence. Jesus agrees to go to Jairus' house but is delayed when the woman with the blood issue reaches out to him. It may feel as though the pandemic has caused a delay in the move of God and the revival of his church but during this time many people, who are still hidden in the crowd, have reached out directly to Jesus and encountered him. He has been at work. However, members of Jarius' household come in this moment and say, 'do not bother Jesus anymore, because of the delay your daughter is dead'. There are voices that say to the church today 'the pandemic has finally killed the church as we know it and it is too late'. Who perhaps believe we shouldn't 'bother Jesus about the church', it is more important we let him deal directly with the crowd and people can reach out personally to him but don't need the physical church body anymore. BUT Jarius still has faith and still leads Jesus to his daughter. Even then the mourners laugh when Jesus says 'she isn't dead, only sleeping'. Jesus' words to us are 'my church isn't dead she is only sleeping 'and there will be those who do not believe this and laugh at the idea the church can be revived.
However, Jesus' words to Jarius' daughter when he resurrected her were also significant, 'Talitha cumi' literally translates 'little lamb time to awaken' he uses such a gentle phrase that highlights he is our shepherd. He is saying to his church, 'little lamb time to awaken', will we trust he can revive his church, seek him out and invite him to our house? we are told Jarius' daughter is 12, why? because she is not an infant but is just about to come of age. The church is just about to come of age, she has been sick and sleeping but the perceived delay is for her glory and was so that many lost in shame could be restored and healed in the process. Jesus was more than capable of healing both women in the story. As those in the crowd feel the power of God touch them personally but also see the resurrection of Jesus' little lamb, they too will return with stories of Jesus' goodness to them.”
For those in a leadership position let’s invite Jesus to “our house”.
For the church as a whole Jesus is saying with utmost tenderness and care it is time to wake up. “Little lamb time to awaken!”
David Maskell
17 Feb 2022