John 20:14-18
Let’s continue to pray for Jim and Marty.
“Notice what you notice.” Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father… (v. 17a) To me, this is a strange remark from Jesus, in so many ways. First, Mary does not recognize Jesus when she first sees Him. Later on the two disciples on the road to Emmaus also do not recognize Jesus. What is it about His appearance that is different? It’s not that He is in a glorified state, because Mary suspects Him to be the gardener and the two Emmaus disciples see Him as just another person. But something is different.
Second, Jesus does not want Mary to “cling” to Him, but later He encourages Thomas to “…put your hand into My side…” (John 20:27). Is there something different about “clinging”? Or is it a time frame issue?
Third, Jesus says that He has “not yet ascended”. I wonder what the time frame is for Jesus “not yet”. Is He referring to His Ascension forty days after His Resurrection? (Acts 1:3,9) Or is there an Ascension for Jesus to be with His Father immediately after His Resurrection? But that in itself is strange, in that Jesus told the thief on the cross that “This day you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) Finally, later on in the same verse first quoted above (17b) Jesus instructs Mary to: …go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father…’. Here John is writing in the present progressive tense, “I am ascending…”, implying that He is ascending immediately after seeing Mary.
So what does “not yet ascended” mean?? I don’t think we’ll ever know the answer to that one!
Slava Bohu!