JOHN 20:17 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
Jesus said to her, 'Do not hold on to me, because 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 prohibition (mē mou haptou, present imperative negative) forbids clinging (haptō implies grasping, attachment) to the resurrection body. This command establishes the resurrection as transition to ascension, not permanent embodied return. Jesus' declaration of 'ascending' (ascends now, future perspective) indicates the Easter-Ascension event's unity. His address of disciples as 'brothers' marks the new familial status conferred by resurrection.
Church Fathers on John 20:17
Mary Magdalene, who had been the sinner in the city, and who had washed out the spots of her sins by her tears, whose soul burned with love, did not retire from the sepulcher when the others did: Then the disciples went away again to their own home.
i.e. To the place where they were lodging, and from which they had ran to the sepulcher. But though the men returned, the stronger love of the woman fixed her to the spot. But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping.
Be not astonished that Mary wept for love at the sepulcher, and Peter did not; for the female sex is naturally tender, and inclined to weep.
Read all 38 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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