​My God, Your God

John 20:17-18 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
 
IT is a very intimate and good thing Mary experiences here. In God’s grace, he has revealed to Mary Magdalene that Jesus is alive! In response she holds onto him with exuberant love and joy.
   Then Jesus urges her to release him. Do you wonder why? Do you think that Jesus should have let Mary hold him as long as she wanted? What’s the hurry?
   Or perhaps Jesus is assuring Mary of his eternal presence. Remember the emotional trauma Mary has experienced for three days. To watch her beloved Lord suffer the cross and die tore at her soul. Viewing his burial and discovering the empty tomb, Mary certainly had many questions invade her soul.
   Then he’s there – in the garden! He’s speaking to her, calling her name. She hears. She sees. She believes. She embraces the Lord, and she is not wanting him to go from her ever again.
   Then Jesus spoke his eternal assurance to Mary. Holding him is good, but it’s not necessary. He is going away to be with my God and your God – with his God and with Mary’s God. They will always be in union with the Father. This is just as he told his disciples: John 14:18-20 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
   Note, also, how the resurrected Lord called the disciples my brothers. This is their destiny. Even though they do not yet know of Jesus’ resurrection, they will come to complete faith. They belong to God as children of God, and he will not let them go. John said this was Jesus’ purpose in John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
   How good to know our Lord loves us so deeply. He knows your name. He has come to make the God of Heaven your God, so you can experience the Holy God’s eternal presence. Saved in your confession of Jesus, you are one with God.
   1 Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in Heaven for you.