Go and Tell
Jesus replied, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
John 20:17 NET
Go and Tell Them
While Jesus says to Mary, “Do not ‘touch me'”, He actually used the word haptou. This word is better translated as clutching or clinging to, inferring lingering. So it wasn’t that He didn’t want her to touch His resurrected body but simply that rather than cling to Him in her relief and excitement she needed to do the more important thing which was to “go and tell the others”. This is made evident in the other statements Jesus makes within this one verse. “I have not yet ascended to my Father” and then “Go to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father …” Jesus still had things to accomplish before He would ascend to the Father and He wanted the disciples to know He had returned, even for just a little while.
Brothers
In all the excitement over Jesus’ resurrection it would be easy to miss the fact that He told Mary to go and tell His “brothers” or that He referred to the Father as “my Father and your Father,” and “my God and your God”. Yet it seems to me a very important statement and one we must not miss. While there can be arguments made that Jesus had used term “brother” before when referring to the disciples – generally it was His habit to call them friend. However, at no other time had He referred to God as anyone’s Father but His own. If you ask me, the personal pronoun changes everything and emphasizes the work Christ had done on the cross and through the resurrection. This is no longer a ‘religion’ of rules and practices but of a relationship between God the Father and His children.
When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
( Galatians 4:4-5 )
The Father’s Business
Oh how nice it is to sit and cling to the Savior or to get lost in His Word and savor the quiet times but we must take to heart Jesus’s words to Mary – and not always ‘cling’ but to go and tell the others. In Mary’s case it was because Jesus would soon be ascending to the Father and no longer with them. There were things that needed to be said and done and they need to make the most of their time. For us and those who don’t yet belong to the family it is equally important because one day He’s coming back to take us home and only those who are prepared will get to go.
The urgency for Mary to "go and tell" was because He would be leaving. The urgency for us to "go and tell" is He will come again and people must be ready. - Me from the inside-out
Prayer
Father – help me to be about Your business – telling others about Your son – how and why You sent him – what He’s done and what He will yet do. Help me to bask in Your Presence – to glean from Your Word and cling to You but not to the neglect of those who do not yet know! Thank You for the empty tomb and for making me Your own!
Don’t miss the Love God Greatly Blog today and find out all the details for the next study, trusting God in the midst of suffering