Disappearing Jesus - 5

10. John 20.17

Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.

Mary Magdalene has come to the tomb to bring spices. But she finds the stone rolled away! She runs to Peter and ‘the other disciple’ and tells them what has happened. They run to the tomb. One believes and the other doesn’t. Then they go back where they came from.

But Mary Magdalene stays at the tomb. She is terribly upset. She sees some mystical figures in the tomb. Then she turns and sees Jesus. But she doesn’t recognize him. Is it because of her tears? Is it because the resurrected Jesus looks different? Is it because this is a mystical experience?

She talks to this ‘man’ until he finally says her name. “Mary.” All of a sudden she knows who this is. She has been named. She has been recognized. To paraphrase another Johannine saying, “She recognized him because he first recognized her.”

At this point the text says, “She turned and said to him…” This doesn’t make literal sense, since when the scene begins it says, “She turned around and saw Jesus.” The second ‘turning’ would put her back to him if this is a literal description. I think the phrase, “She turned and said to him,” in verse sixteen is meant to indicate a ‘conversion’ of some kind. Her recognition of him turns her life around. The mystical encounter with the Teacher (‘Rabbouni’) instructs her life about the ongoing teaching and truth of Jesus’ life.

Then Jesus gives these all-important instructions. You cannot hold on to me. All through the gospel of John Jesus has been hiding, escaping, withdrawing and disappearing. They were not able to catch him or grasp him. Now it becomes explicit that the real, divine Jesus cannot be grasped! If we claim to possess him, have him, intellectually understand him—we are fooling ourselves. The resurrected Jesus cannot be captured.