John 20:17 (NKJV) – Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.'”
What unlocks this mysterious phrase is understanding Mary’s grip on Jesus
Through Mary’s perspective, it’s been 3 full days of turmoil, loss, heartache, mourning, weeping, trembling, doubt, maybe false hope feelings, I think I’m crazy feelings, maybe feeling lied to, maybe feeling betrayed, “how could this be?!” feelings, and certainly hope deferred feelings
A lot of people in Israel at this time were feeling such a huge loss and a major disappointment during those 72 hours of Jesus’ body being buried in the grave
Luke 24:21 (NKJV) – But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel
Think about the deep darkness of the soul that Mary had just experienced for the past 3 days. Then all of a sudden…*loud gasp*… (You have GOT to be kidding me?!?!) HE IS STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!
She grabs a hold of Him like He’s been gone for 20 years! And in the place of hope entirely fulfilled, we as humans make sure that we never lose the thing that gives us the greatest joy!
So now, Mary’s really got a tight hold on Jesus, which is so beautiful in so many ways, and something we all should admire as she has such a great love for our Lord. But remember, it’s this admirable love that has made it difficult for us to understand why Jesus said to her “Do not cling to Me.”
Here’s the secret:
Her grip is declaring to Jesus, “I’m not letting You go ever again; You have to stay with me forever!”
That’s why Jesus appropriately responds with, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father;”
He’s not saying, “don’t be so zealous for Me!”, or “don’t let your love burn for Me that brightly!”, but Jesus is simply saying that He must ascend into heaven here shortly
Check this out:
– The word “cling” here in John 20:17 in the original greek is the word “haptomai”, which means:
John 20:17 rephrased:
Mary, I know you don’t want to let Me go, but you have to, because I have to ascend to My Father here 40 days from now, but you are holding onto Me like you can hold Me here on the earth forever, but I am soon leaving again!