All scripture expresses the glory of God through various means, including but not limited to, contrast, and direct revelation. Jesus Himself being revelation of God the Father, said: “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.”. So it’s with a desire to see more of the glory of God the Father in Christ, that I’ve prepared a response to a dear sister, and hope to share what I’ve found in the verse she brought to my attention.

Jesus said, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

John 20:17

1. *Jesus said, “Do not touch me, for…“

Some bibles use the word “touch”, while others use the word “hold”; but they’re both translated from the same  Greek word ἅπτομαι, which is transliterated haptomai. The biblical scholar Thayer defines the word in a few different ways depending on its context, but I’ve only included the definitions that are related to the passage being considered, you can read these and the others via this link:

  1. to fasten one’s self to, adhere to, cling to
    1. to touch
    2. (Contextually not applicable)
    3. of levitical practice of having no fellowship with heathen practices. Things not to be touched appear to be both women and certain kinds of food, so celibacy and abstinence of certain kinds of food and drink are recommended.
    4. (Contextually not applicable)

My perception of the definition of haptomai in the context of John 20 is “touch” rather than “hold”, because I believe the focus of the word “touch”, conveys a specific aspect that is scripturaly referenced relative to purity and Jesus honouring His Father, whereas if we’re to apply the word “hold”, I believe these scriptural implications of “touch” would not be applicable, and I would be basing understanding of Jesus instruction on being to stop Mary from continuing to express emotional embrace, which would have at that time already commenced, so it then becomes His request for her to release Him, so that He can ascend, which could mean that she as a created being, was able to delay Him from immediately doing His Fathers will, this is an impossible scenario. But from the perspective of the applicable word being “touch”, the following verses show some examples of what the spiritual relevance of person to person contact can be:

  • Physical contact has at least two different outcomes in scripture:
    • It can be the means of receiving blessing:
      • Matthew 14:35-36 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding region. People brought all the sick to Him and begged Him just to let them touch the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were healed.
    • It can be the means of becoming affected/tainted by other persons sins: 
      • 1Timothy 5:22  Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.
      • And for the Israelites specifically, it could be the means of becoming ceremonially unclean, which meant the person could not participate in Holy service for a period of time:
        • Numbers 19:11 He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.

After Jesus received His resurrected body, I believe he made sure that He wasn’t touched by any mortal before appearing in His Fathers presence. I believe the aspect of allowing physical contact with Mary or any other person who is affected by Adam’s sin, would have been prioritising contact with someone other than His Father, instead of the first interaction in His untouched changed body being with His Father.

The relationship of Jesus to His Father is expressed in many portions of scripture including John 1:18 “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.”. The word “bosom” is described as being “the front of the body between the arms“, this word clearly expresses the closeness of the relationship of Jesus and His Father. *This part of the verse teaches: Jesus loves His Father more than any other, and prioritises Him above all others including Himself, He practices what He’s told us to do in Matthew 22:37 “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”

2. “I have not yet ascended to the Father.“

  • Jesus hadn’t ascended to the Father in His resurrected body, and this was first priority in the Father’s order after His revelation and instruction to Mary at the tomb. No man apart from Jesus Christ has the power to “give up the ghost” or to choose the moment of ascension to God, only God the Son can do this, we can rest in Him governing our time at all times. There was a time when each of us were alienated from God, but Jesus is always with the Father, pre-incarnate, incarnate and post-incarnate: ref:
    • John 3:13 And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
    • John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”
    • John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
    • Colossians 1:15 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
    • Colossians 2:9 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily,“
    • 1 Kings 8:27 “But will God truly dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!”

Notice that the following second dot point, which refers to Jesus at the time of His crucifixion in Luke 23:46, tells of Jesus spirit leaving His earthly body, which is referred to in Mark 6:29 as a corpse: “And when his disciples heard, they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb.”, but as the following verses tell, Jesus was with His Father.

  • Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.
  • Luke 23:46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit: and having said this, he gave up the ghost.
  • Hebrews 10:12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down [on the] right of God,

3. “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”

  • Jesus now occupied His resurrected body, although we need to remember that even the heavens can’t contain God, as quoted earlier from 1 Kings 8:27. When Jesus told Mary to tell the other brethren who He is ascending to, He confirmed in two ways, the unity of Himself with all the children of God, that exists through God’s amazing love, expressed through Jesus’s death and resurrection;
    • First as he refers to the believers as “brothers” or “brethren”, which is translated from the Greek word ἀδελφός, Transliteration: adelphos: [Origin: from ‘a’ (as a connective particle) and delphus (the womb), the use of this word concurs with other scripture such as John 1:13, which teaches that salvation is by God’s will not by man’s, as they were His brethren/brothers from the time of them being in the womb.],
    • Secondly: He speaks more of this unity by saying that His Father and His God, is their Father and their God. This unity is also mentioned in Acts 9:4 when Jesus spoke to Saul from heaven, referring to Paul’s persecution of the Church: “And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?“, Paul’s persecution of the members of the Church was persecution of Jesus.
  • After Jesus’s first bodily ascension to the Father, He then returned to earth in His resurrected body on the evening of the same day, appearing to His brethren who were gathered together, He showed them his hands and side, and allowed them to touch Him, so as to confirm in their minds that he was not only Spirit, but also flesh and bones.

While they were describing these events, Jesus Himself stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
But they were startled and frightened, thinking they had seen a spirit.
“Why are you troubled,” Jesus asked, “and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Look at My hands and My feet. It is I Myself. Touch (psēlaphaō: handle/feel) Me and see—for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

Luke 24:36-39

Since before Jesus’s second ascension, His children have been exhorted to live in the hope of His appearing in the clouds, when we will be changed from corrupt to incorruptible, then we will know as we are known:

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Titus 2:13

A.P.Overton 1June25