John 20:17 - WikiHQ

John 20:17 is the seventeenth verse of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament. It contains Jesus' response to Mary Magdalene, just after he meets her outside his tomb after his resurrection.

Content

The original Koine Greek, according to the Textus Receptus, reads:

:λεγει αυτη ο ιησους μη μου απτου ουπω γαρ αναβεβηκα προς τον πατερα μου πορευου δε προς τους αδελφους μου και ειπε αυτοις αναβαινω προς τον πατερα μου και πατερα υμων και θεον μου και θεον υμων.

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

: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.

The English Standard Version translates the passage as:

:Jesus said to her, "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 Modern English Version instead reads:

:Jesus said to her, "Stop holding on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.' "

For a collection of other versions see BibleHub John 20:17.

Analysis

Verse 1 and verses 11 onwards record Mary Magdalene's discovery of the empty tomb and her meeting with the risen Jesus. Similarly in the longer ending of Mark's Gospel (), Mary was the first person to whom Jesus showed himself alive after his resurrection.

Noli me tangere

The passage reads "touch me not": so this phrase is very unusual. It also appears at Matthew 28:10: John Nolland suggests that there may be a shared source used by the two evangelists.

Jerome relates Jesus' direction to the disciples, "Tell my brothers (nuntiate fratribus meis)" to meet Jesus in Galilee to Psalm 22: "I will tell forth (Adnuntiabo) your name to my brothers (fratribus meis)."

Mary delivers the message to his disciples, and scholars agree that they were the group Jesus was referring to as "brothers". According to Henry Alford this is said to show that even after the resurrection Jesus is fully human and a brother to other men: "he has not put off his humanity, nor his love for his own, in his resurrection state".

The message Jesus gives Mary has been the subject of detailed analysis. The assertion that God is both Father and God to Jesus is central to the Monophysitism/Diophysitism debate. The Diphysitists take it as proof that Jesus as well as being God was also a human under God. This passage is often linked with Jesus now referring to his disciples as brothers. Since they are now all brothers they share the same father in God. Since the resurrection Jesus has been forged into a permanent link between humanity and God.

The message Jesus gives to Mary does not mention the resurrection, only that Jesus is soon returning to his father. This is said to show that the great joy of the resurrection is not the return to life but rather joining with God as this is the only aspect of it Jesus felt necessary to immediately tell his disciples. Some thus read the passage as meaning that to Jesus the ascension is far more important than the resurrection. Reading this verse in isolation or disregarding other notions, some even feel that there is no such thing as resurrection; it was purely ascension.

In Islam

A similar verse appears in the Quran when Allah will ask Jesus on judgement day if he told people to take him and Mary as deities besides Allah in Chapter 5 verse 117:

:(Jesus will say) Never said I to them aught except what Thou didst command me to say to wit 'Worship God my Lord and your Lord'; and I was a witness over them whilst I dwelt amongst them; when Thou didst take me up thou wast the Watcher over them and Thou art a Witness to all things. (Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation)

:I said not to them except what You commanded me - to worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Observer over them, and You are, over all things, Witness. (Saheeh International)

For a collection of other versions, see Noble Quran translations.

Usage

This verse has long been used to challenge the Trinitarian doctrine, which has been under debate before 200 A.D. This verse appears to suggest that Jesus says that there is another God besides him. Tertullian, one of the early Catholic Church Fathers, was utterly opposed to the doctrine of the Trinity.

References

Sources

Brown, Raymond E., "The Gospel According to John: XIII-XXI" The Anchor Bible Series Volume 29A New York: Doubleday & Company, 1970.
Calvin, J., Commentary on John 20:16-18
Jesus Appears to His Disciples