John 20:17

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

16 Jesus said to her, ^a“Mary!” She turned and said to¹ Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher).

17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ^aascended to My Father; but go to ^bMy brethren and say to them, ^c‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to ^dMy God and your God.’ ”

18 ^aMary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.

The Apostles Commissioned

19 ^aThen, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were¹ assembled, for ^bfear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ^c“Peace be with you.”

20 When He had said this, He ^ashowed them His hands and His side. ^bThen the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! ^aAs the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

23 ^aIf you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Seeing and Believing

24 Now Thomas, ^acalled the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
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What Does John 20:17 Mean?

Sometime after sunrise, shortly after Mary returned to the disciples, Jesus ascended to His Father's throne to be accepted as Redeemer and High Priest. The modern rendering, "Do not cling to Me," suggests Mary was already holding Him, likely prostrate, grasping His ankles. As the first of the firstfruits, touching Him would not have been wrong, since priests handled the firstfruits offering. Jesus' statement makes clear that even after His resurrection, transformed into spirit, He still had a God, and that God is His Father, the Absolute Deity who is supreme. This same relationship extends to believers, who share the same Father and God. Mary, already converted, could come to God as Father, sharing the intimate privilege of being called children of God.

John 20:16-19

John 20:16-19 absolutely proves which Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread God intends us to use to determine wavesheaf Sunday. These verses show that Jesus ascended to the Father to be accepted on the day following the weekly Sabbath. In the year Jesus was crucified, Passover was on a Wednesday. He was still in the grave when the first day of Unleavened Bread, a Thursday Sabbath, passed by. He rose from the dead late on the weekly Sabbath and was "waved" before God for acceptance on the Sunday morning following the weekly Sabbath. The Pharisees and rabbinic Jewry were wrong in using the day after the first day of Unleavened Bread Sabbath. The Sadducees were correct in using the weekly Sabbath. Taken together, these factors point conclusively to the wavesheaf day as being on a Sunday, the day following the weekly Sabbath within the Days of Unleavened Bread.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Countdown to Pentecost 2001

John 20:17

This occurred early in the morning not long after sunrise. We do not know exactly what time after sunrise, but the women originally came to the tomb while it was still dark (verse 1)—and He was already gone from the tomb at that point! He simply could not have risen at sunrise. It was sometime after sunrise when Jesus stopped her and instructed her to tell His disciples these things. So, shortly after Mary returned to the disciples—however long it took her to get back to where they were assembled—Jesus ascended to His Father's throne in heaven to be accepted as our Redeemer and High Priest.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Christ's Death, Resurrection, and Ascension

**Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing John 20:17:**

1 John 5:1-8

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