Have you ever noticed the difference between how Jesus treated Mary Magdalene and how He treated Thomas after the resurrection?
In John 20:17, Mary finds Jesus in the garden. She is thrilled, and she goes to grab Him. But Jesus stops her. He says, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.”
But just a week later, He tells Thomas in John 20:27, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side.”
Why the difference?
The High Priest and the Offering
Jesus gave a very specific reason: “I have not yet ascended to my Father.”
In the Old Testament, the High Priest had a very specific job on the Day of Atonement. After the sacrifice was made, he had to take the blood into the Holy of Holies and present it before God. It was a precise, holy process. If he was touched, he had to start the process over again.
(Lev 21:11-12, 16:17, 22:6)
Jesus is our Great High Priest. He had just offered the ultimate sacrifice, Himself, on the cross.
When He met Mary in the garden, He was in the middle of fulfilling that High Priestly work. He had risen, but He hadn’t yet “presented” Himself or His finished work to the Father in heaven, offering His blood in the mercy seat in heaven.
Christ was “not yet ascended” in His resurrected body to appear in the presence of God for us.
The Difference with Thomas
By the time Jesus gets to Thomas a week later, things had changed. He had already appeared to the other disciples. The “presentation” was done, His blood was offered for the forgiveness of sin. Now, the focus wasn’t on the High Priestly ritual; it was on proving to a doubting man that the resurrection was real.
Thomas needed to know that Jesus wasn’t a ghost. He needed to see the scars. Jesus allowed the touch because Thomas needed the evidence to move from doubt to faith.
The Lesson for Us
This tells us two things about how God works:
* God is a God of Order. He does things exactly when and how He says He will. The work of the High Priest had to be finished properly.
* God Meets Us Where We Are. He knew Mary needed a mission, and He knew Thomas needed evidence.
God’s timing is even more precise. He finished the work, presented the work, and then provided the proof.
Next time you read that passage, don’t just think Jesus was being distant with Mary. Think about Him being a faithful High Priest, finishing the job so that our salvation would be forever “paid in full.”
