"20 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her."
John 20:1-18
To continue with Mary's experience further, we must seek to understand Jesus' subsequent words to her in 17, 'Touch me not...'. The scholars tell us that the Greek gives the suggestion of stopping something she had begun to do. It would seem that Mary had fallen down before Him in adoring worship and begun to clutch at His feet, and that Jesus was saying, 'Cease from touching me'. The significance of this - not to deal with the question of the Ascension at the moment - is that Jesus is thereby indicating that a new kind of relationship was henceforth to come into being. It is as if He had said, 'No, Mary, it is not quite like it was before; it is not physical contact now, that is not going to be the important thing, there is something more wonderful for you'. This is important in relation to what was said in yesterday's Note. She had reckoned that deliverance for her was associated precisely with this kind of physical relationship, with a Jesus she could see, whose feet she could touch. And Jesus was gently indicating to her that from henceforth it was to be a relationship in which His risen presence, though unseen, was to do for her more than His former fleshly presence could ever do - a relationship of which He says, 'will never leave you nor forsake you'. When we read this into our risen Lord's first recorded words in 15, 'Why weepest thou?', we see something of their real force and import. For this is the real message of the resurrection: weeping days are over, and joy has come with the morning. This is the divine answer to all human woe. Jesus is risen. This is the difference Jesus makes. Sorrow is turned into joy.