Touch Me Not

John 20:11-18

But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.
And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
Then they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."
Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away."
Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him, "Rabboni!" (which is to say, Teacher).
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.'"
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.

‘Do not cling to me.’ The King James Version says ‘Touch Me not’, and of course we ask, why does Jesus say this? He touches so many who need healed, and scripture invites us to ‘reach out and touch The Lord.’ [See Matthew 9:20-22]. Jesus gives the reason as ‘for I have not yet ascended to The Father.’

We have much to take from this, and an understanding of what Mary Magdalene’s actions reveal is important in this regard. Here are three points to consider.

• When Mary looked into the tomb — after John and Simon Peter had gone to their homes — she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Neither John nor Peter report seeing the angels.
• The angels are placed as they are described in Exodus 20 — And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.
• Mary sees Jesus but does not recognise Him until He calls her by name. Her natural reaction is to reach out and touch Him, to connect with her Saviour, but Jesus says “Do not fasten on to Me. It is not the time for that now and the others must see me before I go to be with Father God.”

Mary was the one person who was seeking Jesus. Seek, and you will find. Faith is a basic requirement for finding, and it was Mary’s unquestioning faith that brought her to first see Jesus risen. She saw Him before any of the other disciples, and indeed she was a disciple, as were many others, even although she was not numbered among the twelve.

Some sources say that Jesus would not allow her touch because He was establishing that from the moment of His Resurrection, any bond must be of the heart and not of the physical, a joining or a touching in the Holy Spirit. Jesus stresses this by saying that He goes to My Father and to your Father, to My God and your God, confirming that He is ‘the Way’ for us to have that eternal connection with Father God.

MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS

MATTHEW 9:20-22
And suddenly, a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment.
For she said to herself, "If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well."
But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, "Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour.
LUKE 11:9-10
"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

I SPEAK JESUS — Charity Gayle (featuring Steven Musso)
— as heard at our Tuesday Gathering on 24th January 2023 — Thank you, Rosanna --

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PRAYER requires DISCIPLINE

SOAK AND SOAK and soak continually in the one great truth of which you have had a vision; take it to bed with you, sleep with it, rise up in the morning with it, continually bring your imagination into captivity to it, and slowly and surely as the months and years go by God will make you one of His specialists in that particular truth.
[from ‘The Philosophy of Sin’ by Oswald Chambers]

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COMING NEXT… #494 RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT