John 20:17

‘Jesus says to her, “Do not retain me, for I am not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God'.”

‘Do not retain me.' It would appear that Mary must have been clinging to Him as though she would never let Him go, and so He gently removed her hands to let her know that there was a new beginning. These kindly words were intended to make clear to her that the old relationship no longer held. He was not to be seen as a man restored to life to live again on this earth. Rather He was about to ascend to His Father. Thus she must not cling to Him and retain Him. She must let Him go to become both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). From now on she must worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23).

‘For I am not yet ascended to My Father.' It is vain for us to attempt to understand exactly what these words involved, but they clearly refer to the body. His spirit would already have been with God. The point is simply to indicate the intermediate state in which He was to be found. His bodily resurrection and ascension were not as yet complete.

‘Go to my brothers.' Essentially this indicates His disciples but eventually all believers who do the will of God (Mark 3:35). The term brother is a new one in their relationship with Him. They have moved from servant to friend (John 15:15) to brother (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:11).

‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'. This is probably not speaking of the later ascension after the resurrection appearances but an immediate ascension as He took His throne as the Son of Man, receiving all dominion and power and authority (Matthew 28:18; Daniel 7:13), and receiving the Holy Spirit Whom He would now pass on to His disciples. He had now been glorified and the Spirit could now be poured forth (John 7:38 compare John 16:7). We must beware of straitjacketing the cross and its aftermath. The purpose of what we call the Ascension was to indicate the last of the series of resurrection appearances not to say that He had not previously entered Heaven.

Note how He does not speak of ‘our Father' or ‘our God'. His relationship to the Father is to be seen as distinctive from ours and unique, thus it is ‘my Father' and ‘your Father' and ‘my God' and ‘your God'. As the Son He spoke of ‘My Father', whereas we would speak of ‘our Father'; as glorified representative Man He spoke of ‘My God', we would speak of ‘our God'. But in both cases His relationship with the Father was distinctive from ours. There is nothing surprising about His referring to ‘my God'. In His manhood He had regularly worshipped God, otherwise He would not have been truly human. This was simply an extension of the practise. It said nothing to diminish His divine status.