Jesus really did tell Mary, “Touch me not,” and He directly connected that command with the fact that He had “not yet ascended” to His Father. But other resurrection passages show that touching the risen Christ was not universally forbidden. The safest conclusion is that this was a specific, temporary command to Mary at that moment, while Scripture does not explicitly tell us exactly why His not-yet-completed ascension made her touching Him inappropriate then.
What the Bible Says
John 20:17 “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 first thing we should do is take Jesus’ words exactly as they stand. He told Mary, “Touch me not.” That is a real prohibition. The verse does not say merely, “Do not hold on to me too long,” and the word “touch” itself does not tell us that Mary was embracing Him, clinging to Him, or somehow defiling Him.
Just as important is the reason Jesus gives: “for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” We cannot separate that statement from the command. Jesus Himself connected Mary’s prohibition with His not-yet-completed ascension.
Then He immediately gives Mary something to do: “but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father.” So the verse places three things together: Mary is told not to touch Him, His ascension has not yet taken place, and Mary is sent to carry a message to His brethren.
The immediate setting is resurrection morning. Mary had been looking for Jesus’ body and then suddenly realized that Jesus Himself was alive and standing before her. His words to her belong to that particular moment in the unfolding resurrection account.
Why This Answers the Question
Other resurrection passages show that Jesus was not giving a universal rule that nobody could touch Him after He rose from the dead.
Matthew records women actually touching the risen Christ:
Matthew 28:9-10 “And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. 10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.”
They did not merely come near Him. They “held him by the feet.” Jesus then told them to go to His brethren.
That makes this an especially important comparison with John 20:17. Both passages involve the risen Jesus, women encountering Him, and a command to carry a message to His brethren. But Matthew 28 includes actual physical contact.
John gives us another important passage later in the same chapter:
John 20:27 “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.”
Jesus invited Thomas to physically examine His risen body. So whatever “Touch me not” meant for Mary, it cannot mean that the risen body of Christ was simply untouchable or that all human contact with Him after the resurrection was forbidden.
At the same time, we should not reduce Jesus’ words to nothing more than, “Mary, hurry up and go tell the disciples.” Her commission certainly matters, but Jesus specifically said, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” Any explanation that ignores the words “for I am not yet ascended” fails to deal with the reason Jesus Himself gave.
Jesus had already told His disciples before His death that He would return to the Father.
John 14:28 “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.”
He also described the larger movement even more clearly:
John 16:28 “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”
So when Jesus told Mary, “I ascend unto my Father,” His return to the Father was not a new idea that suddenly appeared in John 20:17. He had already told His disciples that He would leave the world and go to the Father.
Scripture later records His ascension:
Luke 24:49-51 “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. 50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.”
These passages give us firm boundaries for understanding John 20:17. Jesus really prohibited Mary from touching Him at that moment. His not-yet-completed ascension really was connected to that prohibition. But physical contact with Jesus after the resurrection was not universally forbidden.
What Scripture does not explicitly tell us is exactly why His not-yet-completed ascension made Mary’s touching Him inappropriate at that particular moment.
Strongest Objection
A serious interpretation argues that Jesus needed to ascend to heaven after speaking with Mary and perform a priestly act connected with His sacrifice before anyone could touch Him. On this view, Mary was prohibited from touching Him because He had not yet made that heavenly presentation. Jesus then ascended, completed that work, returned, and afterward allowed physical contact.
That interpretation does take an important part of the verse seriously. Jesus did not merely say, “Touch me not.” He said, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.” His unfinished ascension must matter.
But several additional claims are required to make the heavenly-presentation explanation certain. Scripture would need to establish that Jesus ascended immediately after speaking with Mary, that this ascent was separate from the later recorded ascension, that He carried His physical blood into heaven for presentation, and that Mary’s touch would have made Him ceremonially unsuitable for that act.
The approved Scripture evidence does not explicitly establish those details.
Matthew 28:9 and John 20:27 show that later physical contact with the risen Jesus was permitted. That does not by itself prove that an intervening ascent could not have occurred before those contacts. Such an ascent can be proposed as a possible chronology. But Scripture does not explicitly record or require it in the passages examined.
For that reason, we should not go beyond what the Bible actually says. We can say with certainty that Jesus connected Mary’s prohibition with His not-yet-completed ascension. We cannot say with the same certainty exactly what happened between those two facts unless Scripture tells us.
Bottom Line
Jesus meant exactly what He said when He told Mary, “Touch me not.” It was a real, temporary prohibition directed to her at that particular moment, and Jesus explicitly connected it with the fact that He had “not yet ascended” to His Father. Other resurrection passages show that touching the risen Christ was not universally forbidden, but Scripture does not explicitly reveal exactly why His unfinished ascension made Mary’s touching Him inappropriate at that moment.
