Jesus Does Not Allow Mary to Touch Him

Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”  John 20:17, New Living Translation

Imagine the joy Mary is feeling right now.  Sorrow is fading, mourning diminishes, and hope is taking root.  Jesus tells her not to cling, yet wouldn't that be your first thought, too - to throw yourself on Jesus, hugging, weeping, clinging? 

Jesus gives two clear reasons:  first, he had not yet ascended to his father.  From finishing what He started.  That tells me something about Jesus - no person, no thing, was going to keep him from seeing His Father.  His dad!  Imagine being so close to your Dad that at age 33, you have never been apart from Him, not for one day.  Obviously, they had been physically apart, but not spiritually.  Not emotionally.  Not in any other way.  That's close!  That's bought in!  As much as Jesus loved his earthly friends and family, even they could not stop Him from going home.

The second reason Jesus gives is that he wants Mary to go tell the others.  What a joy that would have been!  To tell the brothers, the disciples, who were lonely, afraid, and guilt-stricken, that Jesus was alive!  And Mary, a woman, got that job.  (I'm again so proud to be female!)

Can you imagine being the first person in the whole world who has seen the resurrected Jesus?  No one, in all of history, will ever be able to say that again.  This honor fell on Mary alone.  He could have waited until after he had been to heaven before he appeared to her, or any of the disciples.  But he didn't wait.  That also tells me something about Jesus.

It tells me that he was excited to share his resurrection.  It tells me that he wanted his loved ones to know he was alive!  It tells me that he was anxious to put an end to their sorrow and pain. 

You know, he shares that same excitement with us.  He wants us to know him!  He wants us to see him!  He wants to end our pain! 

The point here is not that he told Mary to stop clinging; it's that he appeared to her at all! 

He arose!  He arose!  Hallelujah, Christ arose!