Several interesting things happen in the Bible after Jesus’ resurrection. In one event, Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalene and says, “Don’t cling to me.”
When she recognized Him, Mary must have reached out in overwhelming relief and love, but Jesus responded with this curious phrase. Why would Jesus say this to someone who had followed Him so faithfully? Understanding this statement requires a closer look at the context, the meaning behind His words, and the deeper spiritual truth He was revealing in that moment.
What Is the Context of Jesus Saying, “Don’t Cling to Me”?
Mary Magdalene encounters the resurrected Jesus, and he says to her in John 20:17, “Don’t cling to me.”
Mary Magdalene followed Jesus faithfully throughout his ministry after he cast seven demons out of her (Luke 8:2). Free from that moment, she became one of his disciples and friends, traveling with him and supporting his ministry. She stood near the cross during his crucifixion (John 19:25) and watched where he was buried. The apostles, Jesus’ remaining eleven disciples, feared for their lives. If Rome and the religious leaders would execute Jesus, what about his followers? So they hid themselves. Mary Magdalene, however, got up the morning after the Sabbath and went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body. But she found the stone rolled away to reveal an empty tomb.
After telling Peter and John, and assuming someone had stolen the body, they come and see the empty tomb but then leave. Mary stays behind, weeping.
Two angels appear, and next, Jesus appears to her. She didn’t recognize him at first, but he calls her name, “Mary,” and she finally understands it’s Christ. She cries out, “Rabboni!” which means teacher, in an intimate and worshipful moment. Mary Magdalene becomes the first witness of the risen Jesus.
She grabs him in some way, and Jesus says, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”
The Greek word for cling here is haptomai, which can mean to touch, hold on to, or grasp, an ongoing verb, as if she would continually cling to him. She believed in him, fully, knew his power and love, and she had lost him in death. Now he was alive. And yet something foundational had changed.
Jesus gifted her with such a moment, intimate and powerful. However, it wasn’t for her alone. He commissions her to “Go to my brothers.” This is the first time Jesus calls his disciples “brothers,” showing a new relationship through his death and resurrection. Upon being born again by the Spirit, God became their Father, and Jesus a brother (Hebrews 2:11). With Mary, he expresses this new state, including her as a sister with, “My Father and your Father, my God and your God.” He sends Mary with Good News from their now shared Heavenly Father.
What Do Scholars Say about John 20:47?
We can explore several reasons why Jesus says, “Do not cling to me,” and the statement has led to much discussion.
A main interpretation is how Jesus desires to shift Mary’s understanding of their relationship, connected with “My Father and your Father, My God and your God.” Before the resurrection, his disciples knew him in an earthly way. After the resurrection, they would know him through the Spirit, especially after his ascension. Jesus earlier declared how knowledge through the Spirit would be better (John 16:7). As Christ said to the woman at the well, God is Spirit, and he seeks true worshippers of Spirit-truth (John 4:24). Therefore, he gives his disciples the greatest gift, the Holy Spirit, to worship the Father rightly. Jesus inhabiting the corrupted body was only temporary. After his resurrection, he had a new body, still physical but of a different substance (1 Corinthians 15), and revelation would be spiritual after his ascension.
In context, seeing Jesus inviting Thomas to touch his wounds, he wasn’t refusing human contact. Perhaps he warned Mary not to hold on to the past, to the old way of doing things. She may have wanted to keep Jesus close. Any of us who have experienced grief can understand this. If we were to see someone we greatly loved alive again after such a traumatic and unjust execution, we would do the same. But something new happened. Upon his ascension, he would send the Spirit so his full presence, even greater than in the flesh, would be with all believers at once, not just a few in one place.
An additional perspective connects the mission given to Mary as Jesus does in the same verse. As part of the new purpose, he called her to go and bear witness, a transition from grief to joy, from intimacy to declaration, as he does later with all disciples with the Great Commission. She becomes an apostle to the apostles.
Since God does everything for a reason and on purpose, we can’t ignore that he first revealed himself to a woman and commissioned her. In the Jewish culture of the day, this would have been a radical act. While Jesus chose his main messengers as men, the twelve disciples, the Gospels make it a point to dignify women in ministry, as well. This encounter with Mary specifically does this.
Essentially, scholars agree that Jesus’ words to Mary don’t reject her but redirect her. He lovingly calls her to a new way of knowing him. Jesus calls us to the same.
What Other Physical Interactions Took Place after Jesus’ Resurrection?
Other interactions take place after Jesus’ resurrection, showing how he physically rose from the dead.
One happens on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, where two disciples walk from Jerusalem. They experience discouragement after Jesus’ execution on the cross. Jesus joins them, and like Mary, they don’t immediately recognize him. Christ walks alongside and explains the Scriptures, revealing deep mysteries. The disciples invite him to break bread with them, and when he blesses the food, they then know him as Jesus. Then he vanishes. This interaction shows both his physical presence (not a spirit or ghost) and his new, powerful form (he disappeared and went elsewhere supernaturally).
Later that day, Jesus appears to the disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36-43). Christ suddenly stands among them. They think he’s a ghost, but he tells them to touch him. Further proving his resurrected physical body, he eats some fish with them. Luke shares these details to teach us that Jesus truly rose again but in a new, glorified body.
In John 20, Jesus also appears in a locked room with the disciples. He shows them the wounds in his hands and side and breathes the Holy Spirit on them, a sending and anointing. However, Thomas wasn’t there, so Jesus shows up again a week later. Thomas famously doubts, and Jesus tells him to touch his wounded hands. Thomas then worships Jesus and believes in the resurrection.
Moving to the next chapter, John 21, Jesus appears by the Sea of Galilee. Time had passed, and despite seeing a risen Messiah, the disciples have gone back to their old job—fishing. Jesus calls out to them from the shore and performs a miracle by filling their net with fish, convincing them it’s him. The disciples reach the shore, and Jesus has made breakfast, inviting them to eat with him, again revealing his combined physical and supernatural nature: he performed a miracle, yet he physically eats with them. In addition, John 21 reveals his care and love for his friends while recommissioning them.
In each of these encounters, the Gospels teach us the reality of Jesus’ new glorified body after his physical resurrection. Also, he allowed people to touch him, even invited it with Thomas. This further underscores the question of why he tells Mary, “Don’t cling to me."
What Can We Learn from Jesus' Saying, “Don’t Cling to Me”?
First, Jesus teaches us what it means to worship him and the Father. Worship tied to physical people, places, or rituals is temporary and limiting. Through his death and resurrection, Christ provides us with a spiritual intimacy far greater than what eye can see or hands can hold. We worship by embracing him as risen Lord, present through the Holy Spirit.
Second, Jesus shows us the model for ministry. It must begin with intimacy with him and then being sent to others. Too many people believe ministry is something we can learn academically and get a certificate for. The New Testament continually reveals that godly ministry begins with deep intimacy and relationship, and he sends us from that place where he is enough. We can’t call others to right relationship with God if we don’t have one, no matter our degrees or training. Learning has its place, but not primacy over hearing from God.
Intimacy with God fuels our calling. When we know him, he entrusts us with his message. Our source isn’t the work of ministry but his presence.
Third, this moment with Mary reveals our eternal future. If we worship the Father by the Spirit of the Son, we will be raised with the same type of imperishable body the Son possesses. Jesus guides her to her future, a resurrected body, and he does the same with us. Christ’s resurrected body is the firstfruit (1 Corinthians 15:20) of what all believers will receive. Through the Spirit, we get a foretaste of resurrection life: love, peace, power over sin, and deep communion with the Father. But one day, we, too, will be raised with a glorified body to dwell with him forever.
When Jesus says, “Do not cling to me,” he isn’t rejecting Mary or us. He invites us to a better and more lasting way. Worship him in Spirit-truth. Live your calling out of intimacy, not activity or ritual. Let his Spirit lead you to the eternal life you were reborn for, when one day we too will be raised in glory like him.
Peace.
Image created using DALL.E 2024 AI technology and subsequently edited and reviewed by our editorial team.
