This is the first of four of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances that John included in his Gospel.
20:10 This is a transitional verse. The NASB joins it to verses 1-9 whereas the NIV connects it with verses 11-18. Since verse 11 begins with "but,"it seems natural to view verse 10 as beginning a new paragraph.
The translation "to their homes"implies that Peter and John had permanent residences in Jerusalem. That seems unlikely. The Greek phrase eis ta idialiterally means "to their own"(cf. 1:11). Since the gender is neuter, John may have meant that these disciples returned to their own friends or temporary lodgings.
20:11 Apparently Mary Magdalene had returned to the empty tomb after she had informed Peter and John about it. Perhaps she returned with them. The other women had evidently departed by then. John presented her as lingering there after Peter and John had departed. She was still grieving over the death and now the missing body of Jesus. She had not yet realized what John did. She now peered into the tomb for the second time (cf. Mark 16:5).
"I recall Proverbs 8:17--'I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me. . . . Another verse comes to mind--Psalm 30:5, Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.'"628
20:12 The Gospel writers did not describe the structure of the interior of the tomb in detail. It is of little importance. It was obviously large enough to accommodate two man-size angels sitting at either end of the place where Jesus' body had lain.629The presence and positions of the two angels were of more consequence. Evidently Mary had seen them earlier (Matt. 28:5-7; Mark 16:5-7; Luke 23:4-7). The angels' white apparel distinguished them as angels (cf. Acts 1:10), but Mary apparently did not recognize them as such. She responded to them as she would have responded to human beings, probably because she was in the shock of grief and was weeping (cf. v. 15).
20:13 The angels asked Mary why she was weeping because weeping was inappropriate in view of Jesus' resurrection. However, Mary did not yet comprehend that Jesus had risen. Her answer revealed that she still thought that someone had removed Jesus' body from the tomb. She still doubted the Resurrection in spite of the angels' earlier announcement that Jesus had risen from the dead. That earlier announcement had produced some initial enlightenment and joy (Matt. 28:6, 8; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6, 8). Mary still wanted to mourn over Jesus' body but did not know where it was. Perhaps her inconsistent behavior is more understandable if we remember that many people in that part of the world still express their grief almost uncontrollably.
20:14 Mary's near hysteria could account for her failing to recognize Jesus at first too. She apparently withdrew from the tomb and saw (Gr. theorei, cf. v. 6) Jesus standing outside it. She beheld Him attentively, but she did not recognize Him for who He was.
"The fact that He appeared to Mary rather than to Pilate or Caiaphas or to one of His disciples is significant. That a woman would be the first to see Him is an evidence of Jesus' electing love as well as a mark of the narrative's historicity. No Jewish author in the ancient world would have invented a story with a woman as the first witness to this most important event. Furthermore, Jesus may have introduced Himself to Mary first because she had so earnestly sought Him. She was at the cross while He was dying (John 19:25), and she went to His tomb early on Sunday morning (20:1)."630
20:15 Jesus addressed this heartbroken disciple by respectfully calling her "woman"(Gr. gynai), as had the angels (v. 13; cf. 2:4; 19:26). He also asked the same question that they had asked (v. 13). Jesus' first recorded post-resurrection words were these in which He combined compassion and mild rebuke. He also asked whom she was seeking as preparation for His self-revelation to her. He meant, what type of Messiah did she think Jesus was?
Mary did not answer either of Jesus' questions. Her grief had made her mildly irrational (cf. 11:21, 32). However there seems to have been something about Jesus' resurrection body that made immediate recognition of Him difficult for many people (Mark 16:12; Luke 24:16; John 21:4; cf. 1 Cor. 15:35-49). Perhaps this was due partially to the terrible beatings that He had received. Instead she asked this apparent gardener for Jesus' body and promised to assume care of it. Her request revealed her devotion to Jesus. She thought that the gardener had removed it for some reason. Her "sir"(Gr. kyrie) here obviously was a courteous address, not a confession of faith.
20:16 Mary recognized Jesus when He called her by name (cf. 10:3-4). She responded by calling Him by the name she had undoubtedly used to address Him numerous times before. John accommodated his readers by translating the Aramaic word. This title probably did not reflect insight into Jesus' true identity. It simply expressed the joy of a restored relationship that she had concluded had ended. Mary swung from the depths of despair emotionally to the height of joy in one brief second. This is one of the greatest recognition scenes in literature.
"Never was there a one-word utterance more charged with emotion than this."631
20:17 Jesus' next words help us to understand that Mary also embraced Jesus. Mary probably prostrated herself before Jesus and embraced His ankles (cf. Matt. 28:9).
Jesus' words are very difficult to interpret. The translators rendered them, "Touch me not"(AV), "Stop clinging to me"(NASB), and "Do not hold on to me"(NIV). The meaning depends to some extent on what Jesus meant when He said, "For I have not yet ascended to the Father."
One view is that Jesus' second statement connects with what follows it rather than with what precedes it.632Since Jesus had not yet ascended to His Father (Gr. anabebeka, perfect tense) Mary should go to the disciples and tell them that He was not yet ascending (Gr. anabaino, present tense). According to this view the initial prohibition against touching Jesus stands alone. The weaknesses of this view are two. First, there is no other example of this anticipatory use of "for"(Gr. gar, translated "since") in the New Testament. Second, it fails to explain any reason for Jesus' prohibition.
Advocates of a second view understand Jesus as telling Mary to release Him because she must go to the disciples with a message.633However it is very unusual for the preposition "for"(Gr. gar) to link a prohibition and an imperative.634Furthermore this reading makes "for I have not yet ascended to the Father"a rather meaningless parenthetical remark.
A third view is that it was inappropriate for Mary to hold Jesus since He had not yet ascended to the Father, but it was appropriate for Thomas to touch Jesus (v. 27). Therefore Jesus must have ascended to the Father and returned between His appearances to Mary and Thomas.635Yet there is no biblical evidence that Jesus ascended to the Father and returned from Him between these two appearances. Moreover it is unclear why ascending to the Father should make any difference in the disciples' physical contact with Jesus' body.
A fourth view regards Jesus' statement as not expressing temporal sequence. Advocates regard it as a theological point instead. Jesus was contrasting His passing presence in His post-resurrection state with His permanent presence through the Spirit.636What Jesus meant was that Mary should refrain from touching Him because even though He had not yet ascended to the Father He would do so shortly. The resurrection had introduced a new relationship between Jesus and His disciples in which physical contact was inappropriate. This view puts more emphasis on Jesus' exaltation in His passion than the New Testament writers did, including John. Moreover it is impossible to dissociate Jesus' statement from a sequence of events since His death, resurrection, and ascension did happen in sequence (cf. vv. 28-29). Finally this view fails to explain why Jesus permitted Thomas to touch Him (v. 27) but did not allow Mary to do so.
The best explanation seems to be that Mary was holding onto Jesus as though she would never let Him go. Jesus told her to stop doing that or, if He knew she was about to do it, He told her not to do it. He was almost ready to disappear permanently. The reason she should release Him was that He had not yet ascended to the Father. He had other work to do first. Only in heaven would it be possible for loving believers such as Mary to maintain contact with Jesus forever. Rather than remaining with Jesus from then on Mary needed to carry out a mission. She needed to inform the other disciples of Jesus' resurrection. This was the time for telling good news (i.e., the gospel), not for remaining with Jesus ceaselessly.637This view makes good sense of the text and harmonizes with Jesus' invitation to Thomas (v. 27). Thomas needed to touch Jesus to strengthen his faith. Mary needed to release Him because He would not depart immediately, and Jesus had something else for her to do.
The message that Mary was to carry to the disciples was that Jesus was going to return to the Father. She would obviously report that Jesus was alive, but Jesus wanted her to communicate more than that. Jesus had spoken of His ascension before (e.g., 7:33; 14:12, 28; 16:5, 10, 17, 28). His disciples needed to understand that His death and resurrection had not wiped out these earlier predictions.
Jesus described the Father in a new way. He was Jesus' Father, but He was also the disciples' Father. Jesus did not say "our"Father. He and His disciples had a different relationship to the Father. Nevertheless they were all sons of the Father albeit in a different sense (cf. 1:12-13, 18; 5:19-30). Therefore Jesus called the disciples His "brothers"here. The context clarifies that Jesus was referring to the disciples and not to His physical half-brothers (v. 18). Likewise Jesus' relationship to God was similar to, though not exactly the same as, the disciples' relationship to God. The emphasis in Jesus' statement was on the privileges that His disciples now shared with Him because of His death, resurrection, and ascension (cf. Rom 8:15-16; Hen. 2:11-12).
20:18 As an obedient disciple, Mary went to the other disciples and told them that Jesus was alive plus the message that Jesus had given her. Again "the Lord"probably meant "Jesus"to her at this time, but she spoke better than she knew. Later she would understand more about the implications of that title. Mark mentioned that the disciples were weeping and mourning when Mary met them, and they failed to believe that Jesus was alive (Mark 16:10-11).
John did not mention Jesus' appearance to the other women that followed His appearance to Mary Magdalene (Matt. 28:9-10). He also omitted Matthew's account of how the guards at Jesus' tomb reported to the Jewish rulers that it was empty (Matt. 28:11-15). Likewise he passed over Jesus' appearances to the two disciples on the Emmaus road (Mark 16:12-13; Luke 24:13-32) and to Peter (Luke 24:33-35; cf. 1 Cor. 15:5).
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