<p>20:17 <em>Jesus said to her: Don&rsquo;t keep touching me; for I am not right now going to ascend to the Father</em>- She thought that the Lord was about to ascend to the Father, understanding His previous references to 'going to the Father' as referring to an ascension through the sky to Heaven. But the Lord comforts her that she doesn't need to keep grabbing hold of Him to stop that ascension, for He was not planning on doing so immediately at that moment. This intense dislike of the idea of His ascension and desperate desire for His physical presence reflects how she totally hadn't understood His entire teaching about the Comforter in chapters 14-16. It was expedient for them that He went away to the Father, because then they would receive the gift of the Spirit, His abiding presence in their hearts which would be as if He were physically present with them, and even more profound. But the Lord is gentle, and doesn't apparently make that obvious point to her. Despite her serious inattention to His words and inadequacy of understanding on that point, He urges her to go and tell the simple good news of His resurrection to others. This is the essence of the good news, and a person can believe and preach it regardless of whether they correctly understand everything else in the Lord's teaching. Mary is the parade example of encouragement in this.</p><p><em>But go to my brothers and say to them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God</em>- And she obeyed: she &ldquo;went and announced&hellip;&rdquo; (:18). This is the first time the Lord refers to the believers as His &quot;brothers&quot;. He wishes to emphasize His connection with us despite the experience of resurrection and immortalization; and perhaps He felt that a new family relationship had now been forged through the gift of the Spirit working in their hearts, &quot;the spirit of adoption&quot; (Rom. 8:15), now enabled by His death.</p><p>Putting this alongside the other gospel records, this is all in the context of the disciples being commanded to take the good news of the risen Lord to all men. Surely Mary is being set up as an example of obedience to that command. She overcame all her inhibitions, the sense of &ldquo;Who? <em>Me</em>?&rdquo;, the embarrassment at being a woman teaching or informing men in the first century&hellip; and as such is the pattern for all of us, reluctant as we are to bear the good news. &ldquo;Among the Hebrews women only had limited rights and above all could not act as witnesses&rdquo;. And yet, the Lord chose Mary to be the witness to His resurrection to His brethren. He turned societal expectations on their head by setting her up as the bearer of the good news to them. Why? Surely to shake all of us from the safety of our societal and human closets; that we, whoever we are, however much we feel inadequate and &lsquo;this is not for me&rsquo;, are to be the bearers of the Lord&rsquo;s witness to all men.</p><p>She was not to tell them &lsquo;Jesus is going to ascend&hellip;&rsquo;. She was to use the first person. Why? Surely because in her witness she was to be to them the voice of Jesus. And so it is for us all; we are witnesses in Him, we are Jesus to the eyes both of our brethren and this world. It was so significant that a woman should be chosen to make this witness, for women were not a valid witness in Judaism (Mishnah, <em>Rosh Ha-Shanah</em> 1.8). Those who feel an intrinsic inadequacy are made adequate for this work of witness. And Mary's previous mental illness (Mk. 16:9) and immoral lifestyle likewise seriously dented her credibility on a secular level.</p><p>Perhaps Mary Magdalene alone perceived from Ps. 110? that the Lord must ascend after His resurrection- for surely this was why she kept clinging on to Him after He rose, fearful He would there and then disappear Heavenwards. And therefore the Lord comforted her, that there was no need to cling on to Him so, for He was not just then going to ascend to the Father (Jn. 20:17). But another reading of this incident is possible, once it is realized that the OT associates clinging to another&rsquo;s feet with making a request of them (2 Kings 4:27). &nbsp;</p><p>Perhaps the Lord called the disciples His &ldquo;brothers&rdquo; straight after His resurrection in order to emphasize that He, the resurrected Man and Son of God, was eager to renew His relationships with those He had known in the flesh. It&rsquo;s as if He didn&rsquo;t want them to think that somehow, everything had changed. Indeed, He stresses to them that their Father is His Father, and their God is His God. He appears to be alluding here to Ruth 1:16 LXX. Here, Ruth is urged to remain behind in Moab cp. Mary urging Jesus?, but she says she will come with her mother in law, even though she is of a different people, and &ldquo;Your people shall be my people, and your God my God&rdquo;. This allusion would therefore be saying: &lsquo;OK I am of a different people to you now, but that doesn&rsquo;t essentially affect our <em>relationship</em>; I so love you, I will always stick with you wherever, and my God is your God&rsquo;.&nbsp;</p>