John 20:11-18
Mary Magdalene is at the tomb of Jesus and the angels ask her, ‘Woman, why do you weep?’ (Jn. 20:13a), ‘they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him’ (Jn. 20:13b).
Now when Jesus appeared to her, she did not recognize Him immediately (Jn. 20:14) and He asked her the same question. Mary thinking He was the gardener asks ‘tell me where you have taken Him, and I will take him away’ (Jn. 19:15b). Jesus then called her by name, and it was then she finally recognized Him and called to Him in Hebrew, ‘Rabboni’ (Jn. 20:16), meaning “my rabbi,” “my teacher.”
As Mary moved toward Him, Jesus said to her, ‘Touch me not for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.’ (Jn. 20:17). Why did Jesus forbid her to touch Him when later that day, He allowed other women to do so. There are two possible answers. First, two different Greek words translate into English as ‘to touch’. One of these words has the idea of “clinging” and is used here in this verse in John 20:17. Mary wanted to cling to Jesus and hang onto Him so that He could not leave, but He had to go. The other Greek word is used in John 20:27 where we see Thomas touching the Lord. This word means “to feel” or “to touch,” without the sense of clinging. This is a valid answer.
However, a second option as to why Jesus told Mary not to touch Him is directly related to the Mosaic Law. He explained: ‘for I am not yet ascended unto the Father’ (Jn. 20:17). What He says specifically relates to what the High Priest does on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16). The high priest began the day by removing the multicolored garments he wore each day. Once undressed, he underwent a ritual immersion, then put on the white garments, symbolizing purity, that he wore only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. After this, the priest went through his procedures and when he finished, he took off his white clothes, underwent a second ritual immersion, and put on his multicolored garments. Now here is the thing, if anyone touched the high priest between the first and the second immersion, it made him unclean, and he could not enter the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the goat’s blood upon the mercy seat; he could not make the atonement with the blood. Therefore, until the ritual was completed, the high priest was untouchable.
Now the tabernacle Moses built on earth was a copy of something already existing in heaven. While the earthly tabernacle could be cleansed by animal blood (Lev. 17:11; Heb. 9:22), the heavenly tabernacle required cleansing by better blood, innocent human blood. Now Jesus in His function as the perfect high priest, ascended into heaven at some point to sprinkle His blood in the heavenly tabernacle to cleanse it (Heb. 9:11, 12, 24; 10:12). But why did the heavenly tabernacle need cleansing? We find this in Ezekiel 28:11-19: Satan, a cherub, the highest order of celestial beings, had defiled it. He was the anointed cherub, and prior to his fall, Satan had some kind of priestly function. He was the worship leader, so to speak, and led the other angels in the worship of God in heaven.
At some point, Satan rejected this exalted position; Isaiah 14 tells us that he wanted to make himself like God. This was Satan’s sin, and when he sinned in heaven, he defiled the heavenly sanctuaries both the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies were defiled. Because these are heavenly sanctuaries, they require cleansing by better blood. So Jesus had to ascend into heaven to sprinkle His blood in the heavenly sanctuary. When He met Mary, His comment suggests that He had not yet cleansed the heavenly tabernacle, making Him untouchable. Once He performed His duty as the perfect high priest, He could return and people could touch Him.
Matthew 28:9-10
After Mary left, the other women arrived, and Jesus greeted them. ‘And they came and took hold of his feet, and worshipped him’ (Mt. 28:9). This act of devotion shows that sometime between talking to Mary and talking to these women, Jesus had ascended into heaven, sprinkled His blood, and now became touchable.
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