Jesus saith unto her, Mary Expressing himself with an emphasis, and that air of kindness and freedom, with which he had been wont to speak to her. This one word, Mary, was like that to the disciples, in the storm, It is I. She turned herself directly toward him, and, eagerly fixing her eyes upon him, instantly discovered who it was; and transported with a mixture of unutterable passions, she cried, Rabboni, which is to say, Master And so much was her heart affected, that she could say no more, but immediately prostrated herself at his feet to embrace them; according to that modesty and reverence with which the women of the East saluted the men, 2 Kings 4:27; Luke 7:38. But Jesus refused this compliment, saying, Touch me not Do not embrace me, either to pay thine homage to me, or to confirm thy faith; or do not cling to me; for it seems she held him by the feet, Matthew 28:9. Or, Do not detain me now, or waste time in embracing me; for I am not yet ascended to my Father I have not yet left, and am not immediately to leave, the world; thou wilt, therefore, have many other opportunities of testifying thy regard to me. “The word απτεσθαι, (says Dr. Campbell, here rendered to touch,) in the use of the LXX., denotes also to lay hold on, and to cleave to, as in Job 31:7; Ezekiel 41:6, and other places.” The sense here plainly is, “Do not detain me at present. The time is precious. Lose not a moment, therefore, in carrying the joyful tidings of my resurrection to my disciples.” Accordingly it follows, Go to my brethren, &c. Thus does he intimate in the strongest manner the forgiveness of their fault, even without ever mentioning it. These exquisite touches, which everywhere abound in the evangelical writings, show how perfectly Christ knew our frame. And say unto them, I ascend He anticipates his ascension in his thoughts, and so speaks of it as a thing already present; to my Father and your Father; my God and your God This uncommon expression shows, that the only- begotten Son has every kind of fellowship with his Father. And a fellowship with God, some way resembling his own, he bestows upon his brethren. Yet he does not say our God, (for no creature can be raised to an equality with him,) but my God, and your God: intimating that the Father is his, in a singular and incommunicable manner, and ours through him, in such a kind as a creature is capable of.
According to Mr. West, this text, I am not yet ascended, &c., comprehends, in a few words, a variety of very important hints, which have not commonly been taken notice of in them; particularly that our Lord intended by them to recall to the minds of his disciples the discourse he had with them three nights before, in which he explained what he meant by going to the Father, (John 16:28,) and by twice using the word ascend, designed to intimate that he was to go up to heaven, not merely in spirit, as the pious dead do, but by a corporeal motion and translation, and that it would be some time before he took his final leave of earth, by this intended ascension. All which expressions and predictions concur, with a great many other circumstances, to show how impossible it was that such an apprehended appearance should have been merely the result of a disordered imagination, which Mr. West illustrates at large, as he also does the mistaken apprehension of those disciples, who, when some of their companions, whose veracity they could not suspect, testified they had seen the Lord, thought his body was not risen, but that it was only his spirit which appeared to them.