John 20:17
“Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold me, for I haven’t yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’””
What does John 20:17 mean?
After his resurrection, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, and her instinct is to cling to him, to hold onto this person she thought was gone forever. But Jesus gently redirects her, asking her not to grasp at him but instead to become a messenger, to go tell his disciples what's happening. There's something tender in this moment, where Jesus acknowledges both her love and the need for her to step into purpose. What Jesus says next is revolutionary: he refers to God as "my Father and your Father," suggesting that his relationship with God has somehow become the model and path for all believers. By his resurrection and ascension, he's opening a way for his followers to know God not as distant rulers, but as a loving Father. Mary is being invited from a place of clinging grief into a place of witness and participation in something larger than her own loss.