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April 21, 2026 |
| Do Not Cling To Me | ||
Unknown to Mary Magdalene, Jesus had been resurrected. She has been despondently looking for his body, which is not in the tomb where it was placed. When she finds that Jesus is alive again, she is understandably overjoyed, but he tells her not to cling to him. What does he mean by that?
Many people have been puzzled by these words, and a range of meanings have been proposed for them.
Yeshua said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping, and whom are you seeking?" But she thought he was the gardener, and she said to him, "Sir, if you have taken him, tell me where you have laid him; I will go take him away." 16 Yeshua said to her, "Maryam." And she turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbuli", which is to say "Teacher." (John 20:15-16)
She responds to him with the word "Rabbuli." By Jesus' time, the Jews had been speaking the language we now call Aramaic for 6 centuries. They called that language Hebrew. The language we call Hebrew was only spoken in religious situations at that time, such as when reading the Bible, or at the temple or synagogues.
So, when she says "Rabbuli," she is speaking Aramaic, when she would normally have said "Rabboni," which is the Hebrew word for Master or Teacher.
In Mark 10:51, Jesus is speaking to a blind man.
"What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked. "Rabboni," said the blind man, "let me see again."
Here, the blind man correctly uses "Rabboni."
So, in her surprise at seeing a dead man alive, Mary Magdalene has used the wrong language.
Jesus' question to her gets to the heart of the matter, even though she hasn't recognized him yet. It's an odd question for him to ask because it is obvious what she is seeking. It isn't like him to play a "Surprise!" game with anyone. When she does recognize him, her response is "teacher," which is also at the heart of the matter. But we aren't ready for the explanation yet.
Yeshua said to her, "Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to join my Father, and go join my brothers and say to them that I ascend to join my Father and your Father, my God, and your God." 18 And Maryam Magdalitha came and announced to the disciples, "I have seen Our Lord", and that he had said these things to her. (John 20:17-18)
Here is Jesus saying, "Do not cling to me," but the text hasn't said she grabbed him. Part of our problem in understanding what is happening comes from using modern norms to understand it. We would expect a woman of our time to slap a big hug on Jesus, so we assume that she did. Because of that, some people think that Jesus' reference is about close contact.
It would be out of place for her to grab him or hug him. Her relationship to him is not “boyfriend” or even “friend.” Her relationship is rabboni / rabbuli, that is, rabbi or master. So why does he say to her, "Don't cling to me."
To understand that, we need to do something that the church frequently fails to do: consider the context. Jesus gives the explanation, "for I have not yet ascended to join my Father" and "say to them that I ascend to join my Father."
Even what he says with these words is a mystery to most people. Some think this means that Jesus is going to ascend in the next few minutes. That isn’t correct. He means he is in the process of ascending. That process begins with 40 days of purification from being in the grave.
We also need to consider that Mary Magdalene is the only person Jesus says this to, but he tells the men to put their fingers in the holes.
We need to put all these pieces together. How is "I have not yet ascended" an explanation for why she shouldn't "cling" to him? Also how does Jesus saying, "whom are you seeking?" and her response, "rabbuli / rabboni" relate to that?
When Jesus first speaks in these verses, he already knows she has a problem. When he asks, "Why are you weeping?" and "Whom are you seeking?" he means, "Think about it, you are looking for the wrong thing." You shouldn't be looking for a dead body. When she recognizes him, Mary wants to drop him back into her life so that everything will be like it was before. She confirms that when she says, "teacher." She should be looking for a risen savior.
The angels said something similar.
And they were in fear and they bowed their faces to the ground, and they were saying to them, "Why are you seeking the Life among the dead?" (Luke 24:5)
Jesus has completed the role of rabbi. When he says, "I have not yet ascended," he means, "I'm only in this form as part of my ascension process." He doesn't want her to cling to the old Jesus, mentally, or spiritually. From that time on, his role is Savior. Cling to him.