ACC ~ John 20 v17 - 18

OVERVIEW:

Jesus’ request to Mary to not hold on to him has been understood in various ways. There is the thought that Jesus needed purification after the battle of his passion, a purification that could only come when his resurrection was perfected by the Father (ORIGEN). Or this was only spoken of his human nature (THEODORET). It is possible that Jesus is telling Mary that their relationship has changed because in her joy she had not perceived the change so that she might regard him now with more reverence (CHRYSOSTOM) as one might approach a king (EPHREM). This must have been said figuratively, however, since elsewhere after the resurrection he allows himself to be touched by Thomas and others; therefore he is speaking of the church (LEO). It is better not to touch Christ with the hand but rather by faith (AUGUSTINE) to touch him as God (AUGUSTINE). And so Jesus is not so much reproaching her as telling her to look beyond the human to his divinity, which he shares with the Father (ROMANUS).

When Jesus told Mary of his need to ascend to the Father, he was telling her the good news that the one from whom we were formerly alienated has become our Father and our God (GREGORY OF NYSSA). Jesus restricts Mary from touching him just as the church restricts those who are impure and lacking the Spirit from touching the divine mysteries (CYRIL). He wanted to teach her and his disciples the fact of his resurrection and ascension (THEODORE).

As Christ ascends into heaven, he paves the way for us (AMBROSE). He is, in effect, announcing to Mary that he is the firstfruit of the resurrection with all that this means for humankind’s relationship to the Father (GREGORY OF NYSSA). This passage also shows again the distinction between Father and Son as persons in the Godhead (TERTULLIAN). Jesus clearly delineates his nature from ours when he speaks of “my father” and “your father” (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). Christ’s Father is our creator (AMBROSE) and his Father by nature, our Father by adoption (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). In his humility, Christ here ranks himself with us (JOHN OF DAMASCUS). The two natures must, however, be distinguished if this passage is to be interpreted properly (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS).

When Mary makes the announcement that she has seen the Lord, she is most likely accompanied by the other women who were at the tomb (AUGUSTINE). Just as a woman had previously delivered the words of the serpent that brought death, so now a woman brings the words that bring life (GREGORY THE GREAT).

20:17a | Do Not Hold Me

PURIFICATION NEEDED AFTER BATTLE

ORIGEN: But after he had destroyed his enemies through his passion, the Lord, who is mighty in battle and strong, [1] required a purification that could be given to him by his Father alone. And this is why he forbids Mary to touch him. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.287. [2]

[1] Ps 24:8 (23:8 LXX).

[2] SC 157:528; FC 80:246**.

PERFECTION OF THE RESURRECTION COMES WITH THE FATHER

ORIGEN: It belongs to the resurrection that one should be on the first day in the paradise of God, [1] and it belongs to the resurrection when Jesus appears and says, “Do not touch me. For I am not yet ascended to my Father,” but the perfection of the resurrection was when he came to the Father. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.245. [2]

[1] Lk 23:43.

[2] FC 80:309**; SC 157:528.

JESUS SPEAKS ACCORDING TO HUMAN NATURE

THEODORET OF CYR: For the human being who died rises up on the third day. But when Mary strives with longing to touch his holy limbs, he objected and says to her, “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, my God and your God.’” God the Word, who comes from heaven and lives in the bosom of the Father, did not utter the phrase “I have not yet ascended to my Father.” The Wisdom that embraces all things that exists did not say it either. This was spoken by the very human being who was formed out of all kinds of limbs, who had been raised from the dead and who after death had not yet ascended to his Father but reserved for himself the firstfruit of his passage. DIALOGUE 3.12. [1]

[1] FC 106:225-26.

THE RELATIONSHIP HAS CHANGED

CHRYSOSTOM: Some assert that she asked for spiritual grace because she had heard him say to the disciples, “If I go to the Father, ‘I will ask him, and he shall give you another Comforter.’” [1] But how could she who was not present with the disciples have heard this? Besides, such an interpretation is far from the meaning here. And how should she ask such a thing when he had not yet gone to the Father? What, then, does it mean? I think that she still wanted to talk with Jesus like she used to and that in her joy she perceived nothing out of the ordinary in him, although he had become far more excellent in bodily appearance. To lead her therefore from this idea, and so that she might speak to him with more awe (for he no longer appears so familiar with the disciples either), he raises her thoughts so that she is more reverent toward him. To have said, “Do not approach me as you did before, for matters are not in the same state, nor shall I any longer be with you in the same way” would have been harsh and highsounding. But by saying, “I am not yet ascended to the Father,” it was not as painful to hear, although he was basically saying the same thing. For by saying, “I am not yet ascended,” he shows that he is hurrying and pressing on. He was saying that it was not right for one about to leave for [heaven] and who would no longer converse with human beings to be looked on with the same feelings as before. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 86.2. [2]

[1] Jn 14:3, 16.

[2] NPNF 1 14:324**.

APPROACHING THE KING

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: He said, “Do not touch me,” first of all, because this body was [like] a first-flowering fruit from Sheol that our Lord, as priest, was preserving carefully from contact with any [human] hand, so as to offer it to the [only] hand capable of receiving such a gift and capable of paying the price for an offering such as this. Second, [he did not want anyone to touch him] in order to show that this body was [already] glorified and magnified. Thus he showed them that, while he had been a servant, everyone had power over him, since even tax collectors and sinners used to come and touch him. But when he was made Lord, fear of him was over everyone like [the fear of] God. [1] Even kings and nobles convince us [of this], for those who see [them] are afraid to touch them. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 21.26. [2]

[1] The fear of God was one of the spiritual dispositions on which Syrian theologians insisted most.

[2] ECTD 329.

MARY LACKS SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING

LEO THE GREAT: The Son of man and Son of God, therefore, dearly beloved, then attained a more excellent and holier fame when he returned to the glory of the Father’s majesty. In an incomprehensible way, he began to be nearer to the Father in respect of his Godhead after having become distanced in respect of his manhood. A better instructed faith then began to draw closer to a conception of the Son’s equality with the Father without the necessity of handling the corporeal substance in Christ. As a result of this [substance], he is less than the Father, since, while the nature of the glorified body still remained, the faith of believers was called on to touch not with the hand of flesh but with the spiritual understanding the Only Begotten, who was equal with the Father. And this is why the Lord said to Mary Magdalene (who represents the church), [1] when she hurriedly approached and touched him, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father,” that is, I would not have you come to me as to a human body or recognize me by fleshly perceptions. I want you to wait for higher things. I prepare greater things for you. When I have ascended to my Father, then you shall handle me more perfectly and truly, for you shall grasp what you cannot touch and believe what you cannot see. SERMON 74.4. [2]

[1] See also Augustine Sermon 5.7 (WSA 3 1:222).

[2] NPNF 2 12:188-89**.

TOUCH CHRIST BY FAITH

AUGUSTINE: What does this mean, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father”? If she could not touch him as he was standing on earth, would she be able to touch him seated in heaven? As though he was saying, “Do not touch me now; touch me then, when I have ascended to the Father.” Your graces will recall yesterday’s reading, when the Lord appeared to the disciples and they thought they were seeing a spirit. But wishing to relieve them of this mistaken idea, he offered himself to their touch. What did he say? It was yesterday. There was a sermon about it. [1] “Why are you troubled, and why are thoughts coming up into your hearts? See my hands and my feet; feel and see.” [2] He had not already ascended to the Father, had he, when he said feel and see, offering himself to his disciples to be touched, not just touched but felt, to produce faith in the real flesh of his real body, to present the solid reality of truth even to the human touch? So he offers himself to the hands of the disciples to be felt, but he says to the woman, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” What can it mean? Could men only touch him on earth, while women had to touch him in heaven, “for I have not yet ascended to my Father”?

So what can touching be, but believing? We touch Christ, you see, by faith, and it is better not to touch him with the hand and to touch him with faith than to feel him with the hand and not touch him with faith. It was not a great matter to touch Christ; the Jews touched him when they seized him, they touched him when they bound him, touched him when they hung him up; they touched him, and by touching him in a bad way, they lost what they touched. Just you touch by faith, O Catholic church; see that you touch by faith. If you have thought of Christ only as a man, you have touched him on earth. If you have believed Christ is Lord, equal to the Father, then you have touched him when he has ascended to the Father. SERMON 246.4. [3]

TOUCH ME AS GOD

AUGUSTINE:

What is “Touch me as I ascended to the Father”?

Touch me as equal to the Father.

What is “Touch me as equal to the Father”?

Touch me as God, that is believe in me as God.

SERMON 375C.4. [4]

[1] Here we see Augustine’s interaction with his audience characteristic of many of his sermons and tractates.

[2] Lk 24:38-39.

[3] WSA 3 7:104-5.

[4] WSA 3 10:342*.

20:17b | I Have Not Yet Ascended to the Father

MOVE BEYOND THE HUMAN TO THE DIVINE

ROMANUS MELODUS:

Carried away by the warmth of her affection, and by her fervent love,

The maiden hastened and wished to seize Him,

The One who fills all creation without being confined by boundaries;

But the Creator did not find fault with her eagerness;

He lifted her to the divine when He said,

“Do not touch me; or do you consider me merely human? I am God, do not touch me.

O holy woman, lift up your eyes

And consider the heavenly spheres;

Seek me there, for I ascend

To my Father, whom I have not left;

For I share His throne, and with Him I am without time and beginning,

I who offer resurrection to the fallen.”

KONTAKION ON THE RESURRECTION 29.11.

FORMERLY ESTRANGED, WE BECOME CHILDREN

GREGORY OF NYSSA: Now that the words addressed to Mary are not applicable to the Godhead of the Only Begotten, one may learn from the intention with which they were uttered. For he who humbled himself to a level with human littleness is the one who spoke these words. [1] … He from whom we were formerly alienated by our revolt has become our Father and our God. Accordingly in the passage cited above the Lord brings the good news of this benefit. And the words are not a proof of the degradation of the Son but the good news of our reconciliation to God. For that which has taken place in Christ’s humanity is a common boon bestowed on humankind generally. For as when we see in him the weight of the body that naturally gravitates to earth ascending through the air into the heavens, we believe according to the words of the apostle that we also “shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” [2] Even so, when we hear that the true God and Father has become the God and Father of our Firstfruits, we no longer doubt that the same God has become our God and Father too, inasmuch as we have learned that we shall come to the same place where Christ has entered for us as our forerunner. [3] AGAINST EUNOMIUS 12.1. [4]

[1] Gregory goes on to speak of our alienation from God and how Christ took that alienation into his own body.

[2] 1 Thess 4:16.

[3] See Heb 6:20.

[4] NPNF 2 5:241-42*.

HOLY THINGS FOR THE HOLY ONES

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: What is the difference if he was not yet ascended to his Father? How could this reason suffice to render it improper for those that loved him to touch his holy body? Would it not be blameworthy for anyone to imagine that the Lord shrank from the pollution of the touch and said this so that he might be pure when he ascended to the Father in heaven? [1] Would not such a person stand convicted of great foolishness and madness? For the nature of God can never be polluted. For just as the light of the sun’s ray, when it strikes on a manure pile or any other earthly impurities, suffers no stain, for it remains as it is, that is, undefiled, and it partakes in no degree of the ill odor of the objects that it encounters, even so the all-holy nature of God can never admit of the blemish of defilement. Why then was Mary prevented from touching him when she drew near and yearned to do so? …

We say that the reasons for our Savior dwelling among us were many and diverse, but there is one overriding principle, indicated in his own words: “For I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” [2] Therefore, before the saving cross and the resurrection from the dead, while as yet his providential scheme had not received its appropriate fulfillment, he mingled both with the just and the unjust, and ate with publicans and sinners and allowed any that wanted to come to him and touch his holy body so that he might sanctify all who came and call them to a knowledge of the truth and might bring back to health those who were diseased and enfeebled by the constant practice of sin. [3] …

At that time, by his providence, people who were still unclean and who were polluted both in mind and body were allowed without hindrance to touch the holy flesh itself of our Savior Christ and to gain every blessing from it. But after he completed the plan of our redemption, having suffered death on the cross and rising to life again, he showed that his nature was superior to death. And so, from then on, instead of granting them access, he hinders those who come to him from touching the very flesh of his holy body. In this way he gives us a type of the holy churches and the mystery concerning himself, just as also the law given by the all-wise Moses itself did when it represented the slaughter of the lamb as a figure of Christ. For “no uncircumcised person,” said the Law, “shall eat thereof,” [4] meaning by uncircumcised someone who is “impure.” And humanity may justly be deemed impure in its own nature. For what is the nature of a human being, as compared with God’s inherent purity? We may not, therefore, while we remain uncircumcised, that is, impure, touch the holy body, but only when we have been made pure by the true circumcision of the Spirit. … As, therefore, the Holy Spirit had not yet been sent down to us, for he had not yet ascended to the Father, he repulses Mary as not yet having received the Spirit, saying, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to the Father”; that is to say, I have not yet sent down to you the Holy Spirit. And so, the type is applicable to the churches. … Therefore, also, to those who wish to partake of the blessed Eucharist, the ministers of divine mysteries say, “Holy things to the holy,” teaching that participation in holy things is the due reward of those who are sanctified in the Spirit. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12. [5]

[1] See above Origen’s comment on this verse.

[2] Mt 9:13.

[3] See Lk 5:31; 7:37; 8:43-44, 48.

[4] Ex 12:48.

[5] LF 48:657-60**.

JESUS TEACHES ABOUT HIS RESURRECTION AND ASCENSION

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: It is the custom of our Lord that, while his providence is preparing something, he seems to do something else according to the sense of his words. For instance, this is how he acted with the woman who suffered from hemorrhages. [1] He asked, “Who touched me?” [2] He certainly knew the answer. However he seemed to ask as if he did not know, so that the woman who had touched him might be afraid and manifest the miracle and show her faith though which, since it was adequate, she had received her healing. … And it is the same here as well. He first showed himself to the woman after his resurrection and was about to ascend into heaven, and by now he wanted to teach the disciples that they did not only have to believe in resurrection, because their sight testified to the reality of the facts, but also so that they might know he was not going to remain on earth after his resurrection but would also ascend into heaven to receive greater glory with his Father. Since this is so, it seems he says these things to the woman and forbids her to touch him as if she was not supposed to come into contact with his body in the same way anymore, since he was now provided with a different and much more powerful body. But this is the real meaning: Through what he said he wanted both to teach his disciples about his resurrection and his ascension. And this is evident from the fact that he showed himself again to the disciples who were in doubt, and he ordered them to touch the wounds on his body in the spots of the nails. So this is not the reason he kept the woman from coming into contact with him. And we cannot say that she was prevented because she was a woman; indeed, he allowed her to touch his feet many times. If she could not touch him because she was a woman, he would have forbidden her to do so even before. If he had forbidden the woman because his body had been transformed into a better state, he would have not allowed the disciples to confirm with their touch their faith in his resurrection. And then, if she also, by any chance, had doubted, like them, wouldn’t he have allowed her to confirm her faith through the contact with him? If someone says that he did not care about the faith of this woman or her unbelief, this is quite foolish. But since he had allowed her to come to him then, is it possible that the reward that he gave her for her faith was the privation of contact with him? And does this not look hateful, especially to educated people? Therefore, with his words he revealed two things: first, that his body after the resurrection was in a stronger and more excellent condition than before and therefore was not to be exposed to any human contact; second, that he would be assumed into heaven, to be connected forever with the Father in honor. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 7.20.17. [3]

[1] See Lk 8:43.

[2] Lk 8:45.

[3] CSCO 4 3:348-50.

20:17c | My Father, Your Father; My God, Your God

PAVING THE WAY TO HEAVEN

AMBROSE: For Christ’s purpose in the incarnation was to pave for us the road to heaven. Mark how he says, “I go up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 3.7.50. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 10:250*.

JESUS ANNOUNCES FIRSTFRUITS OF HUMAN NATURE

GREGORY OF NYSSA: He becomes the firstborn of the new creation of men and women in Christ by the twofold regeneration, reborn by holy baptism and by that birth that is the consequence of the resurrection from the dead. In both alike he becomes for us the Prince of life, [1] the firstfruits and the firstborn. This firstborn, then, also has brothers. This is who he is referring to when he says to Mary, “Go and tell my brothers, I go to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.” In these words he sums up the whole aim of his dispensation as man. For humanity rebelled against God and “served those that by nature were no gods.” [2] And even though they were the children of God, they became attached to an evil father falsely so called. Therefore, the mediator between God and man, [3] having assumed the firstfruits of all human nature, [4] sends to his brothers the announcement of himself not in his divine character but in that which he shares with us. He says, “I am departing in order to make that true Father, from whom you were separated, to be your Father; and to make that true God from whom you had rebelled to be your God. And I am doing this in my own person. For by those firstfruits that I have assumed, I am in myself presenting all humanity to its God and Father.”

Since, then, the firstfruits made the true God to be its God and the good Father to be its Father, the blessing is secured for human nature as a whole, and by means of the firstfruits the true God and Father becomes Father and God of all men and women. Now “if the firstfruits are holy, the lump also is holy.” [5] But where the firstfruits, Christ, is—and the firstfruits is none other than Christ—there also are those who are Christ’s, as the apostle says. [6] AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.8. [7]

[1] See Acts 3:15.

[2] See Gal 4:8.

[3] See 1 Tim 2:5.

[4] The humanity of Christ being regarded as this “firstfruits”: unless this phrase is to be understood of the resurrection, rather than of the incarnation, in which case the firstfruits will be his body, and analabōn should be rendered by “having resumed.”

[5] Rom 11:16. The next reference following may be to Jn 12:26 or Jn 14: 3; or to Col 3:3.

[6] See 1 Cor 15:23.

[7] NPNF 2 5:113*.

CHRIST IS DISTINCT FROM THE FATHER

TERTULLIAN: Now, does this mean I ascend as the Father to the Father, and as God to God? Or does it mean I ascend as the Son to the Father and as the Word to God? This is also why this Gospel, at the very end, intimates that these things were ever written … “that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” [1] Wherever, therefore, you take any of the statements of this Gospel and apply them to demonstrate the identity of the Father and the Son, supposing that they serve your views at that point, you are contending against the definite purpose of the Gospel. For these things certainly are not written that you may believe that Jesus Christ is the Father but the Son. AGAINST PRAXEAS 25. [2]

[1] Jn 20:31.

[2] ANF 3:621. See also Novatian On the Trinity 26.

SONSHIP BY NATURE AND SONSHIP BY GRACE

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: But in case anyone, from simplicity or perverse ingenuity, should suppose that Christ is but equal in honor to righteous people … it is well to make this distinction beforehand, that the name of the Father is one, but the power of his operation is many. And Christ himself, knowing this, has spoken unerringly, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father.” He does not say, “to our Father,” [1] but distinguishing and saying first what was proper to himself, “to My Father,” which was by nature. Then he adds, “and your Father,” which was by adoption. For however high the privilege we have received of saying in our prayers, “Our Father,” who art in heaven, yet this gift is one of loving-kindness. For we call him Father, not as having been by nature begotten of our Father who is in heaven but having been transferred from servitude to sonship by the grace of the Father, through the Son and Holy Spirit. We are permitted to speak this way because of the ineffable loving-kindness [of our Father]. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 7.7. [2]

[1] See also Augustine Tractates on the Gospel of John 121.3.

[2] NPNF 2 7:45-46*. See also John of Damascus Orthodox Faith 4.8 and Ambrose On the Christian Faith 1.14.90.

CHRIST’S FATHER BY NATURE, OUR FATHER BY ADOPTION

CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: The Father, having begotten the Son, remained the Father and is not changed. He begat Wisdom yet did not lose wisdom himself. He begat power yet did not become weak. He begat God but did not lose his own Godhead. Neither did he lose anything himself by diminution or change. He who was begotten does not lack anything either. Perfect is he who begat, perfect is that which was begotten: God was he who begat, God is he who was begotten; God of all himself, yet giving the Father the title as his own God. For he is not ashamed to say, “I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.” But in case you might think that he is a Father of the Son in the same way that he is Father of creation, Christ drew a distinction in what follows. For he did not say, “I ascend to our Father,” lest the creatures should be made fellows of the Only Begotten. Instead, he said, “My Father and your Father.” He is in one way mine, by nature. He is, in another way, yours, by adoption. And again, “to my God and your God,” in one way mine, as his true and only-begotten Son, [1] and in another way yours, as his workmanship. [2] The Son of God then is very God, ineffably begotten before all ages. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 11.18-19. [3]

[1] Compare Catechetical Lectures 7.7. The expression “my God” is understood by the Fathers generally as spoken by Christ in reference to his human nature, but Cyril applies this, as well as the other expression “my Father,” to the divine nature. So does Hilary On the Trinity 4.53; see also Epiphanius Panarion 69.55.

[2] Eph 2:10.

[3] NPNF 2 7:69*. See also Augustine Sermon 265F.2 (WSA 3 7:265); Hilary On the Trinity 1.33 (NPNF 2 9:49).

CHRIST, IN HUMILITY, RANKS HIMSELF WITH US

JOHN OF DAMASCUS: Of those passages which refer to the period after the resurrection, there are several which pertain to his human nature. … Other passages speak of Christ’s dual nature, such as, “I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.” “My God and your God,” is to be understood more in an abstract way, as though he were ranking himself with us. Those passages, in general, that are sublime must be assigned to the divine nature, which is superior to passion and body. And those passages that are humble must be ascribed to the human nature. And those passages that are common must be attributed to the compound being, that is, the one Christ, who is God and man. And it should be understood that both [the human and divine] belong to one and the same Jesus Christ, our Lord. For if we know what is proper to each, and perceive that both are performed by one and the same, we shall have the true faith and shall not go astray. ORTHODOX FAITH 4.18. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:92**.

TWO NATURES MUST BE DISTINGUISHED

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: To give you the explanation in one sentence: You are to apply the loftier expressions to the Godhead and to that nature in him that is superior to sufferings and bodily experiences. But all that is lowly should be applied to the composite condition [1] of him who for your sakes made himself of no reputation [2] and was incarnate. ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 3(29).18. [3]

[1] Gregory often speaks of human nature as our composite being. Here he means the sacred humanity exclusively; there is no suspicion of Nestorianism or Eutychianism.

[2] Phil 2:7.

[3] NPNF 2 7:307-8**.

20:18 | I Have Seen the Lord

MARY NOT ALONE

AUGUSTINE: While she was going with the other women, according to Matthew, “Jesus met them and greeted them. And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.” [1] So we gather that there were two visions of angels. We also understand that our Lord too was seen twice: once when Mary took him for the gardener and again when he met them by the way. In this way, by repeating his presence, he strengthens their faith and calms their fears. … And so Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples, not alone but with the other women whom Luke mentions. [2] HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 3.24.69. [3]

[1] ESUS IS INFORMED THAT LAZARUS IS SICK | JOHN 11:1-5

[2] Lk 24:10-11.

[3] NPNF 1 6:214**.

SIN BURIED WHERE IT BEGAN

GREGORY THE GREAT: See how the sin of the human race was removed where it began. In paradise a woman was the cause of death for a man; [1] coming from the sepulcher a woman proclaimed life to men. Mary related the words of the one who restored her to life; Eve had related the words of the serpent who brought death. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 25. [2]

[1] Gen 3:6.

[2] CS 123:195.