TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Mary Magdalene had watched Jesus die. She knew he had done nothing wrong, and yet she stood by as he was killed. That kind of loss leaves a mark that goes deep. So when she saw him again after the resurrection, her reaction was not simply surprise or joy. It was the response of someone who had already lost him once and could not bear the thought of losing him again.

In John 20, Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father.” At first, this seems like a hard thing to say to someone who had been so faithful to him. Other followers touched Jesus after the resurrection without any such warning. Thomas was even invited to reach out and touch his wounds. So why was Mary’s situation different?

The answer lies in what she was actually doing. The word used in the original Greek text points to more than a simple touch. It describes holding on, clinging, refusing to let go. Mary was not merely reaching out to confirm that Jesus was real. She was trying to keep him from leaving.

But holding on was not going to be possible. Jesus had not returned simply to resume life as it had been before. He was on his way back to the Father, and his physical presence among them was coming to an end.

Jesus had promised that after he left, he would send the Holy Spirit. That Spirit would not visit from time to time or appear briefly and then vanish. He would take up a permanent place inside every person who believed. Mary Magdalene, along with every follower who came after her, would carry the presence of Christ within her from that point on.

The Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of Christ himself. This means that what Mary feared losing, the closeness, the presence, the relationship, would not be gone at all. It would simply change form.

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

Romans 8:9