Stop Clinging

“From this we may gather that man’s nature, so to speak, is a perpetual factory of idols.” – John Calvin, “Institutes of the Christian Religion”

“We should confess, we lose You in our busyness, we've made You in our image so our faith's idolatry.” Michael Card, “Know You in the Now”

Shortly after the resurrection, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb where Jesus had been laid to finish preparing His body for burial. When she came to the tomb she did not find the body of Jesus but an empty tomb. She assumed that the empty tomb meant that His body had been stolen. Her response was one of profound grief; the gospel of John records that she stood outside the tomb and wept. It is clear from what we read in the gospel of John that Mary loved Jesus and had tremendous affection for Him. A short time later Jesus appeared to Mary and revealed Himself to her. When she realized that it was Jesus she hugged Him as tightly as she could and obviously refused to let go; she was expressing her love and affection. If we had been witnesses to this scene it certainly would have been emotionally gripping, to witness her profound love for Jesus. It is the emotionally gripping nature of this scene that makes Jesus’ response startling. Jesus said to her in John 20:17:

“Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father…”

At first glance these words seem somewhat rude. Didn’t Jesus understand that Mary missed Him, was sad that He had died and was simply overjoyed to see Him again? Why would He say such a thing to her? Why didn’t He return her affection? This is the point, Jesus did understand why she was clinging to Him and that is precisely why He told her to stop. Mary was happy to see her friend, her mentor, her teacher. She was clinging to her idea of who Jesus was and it was crucial that she stop. If she continued to cling to this Jesus she would fail to recognize that He was so much more. Jesus had to ascend to the Father. Jesus had to take His place at the right hand of the Father where He would reign over His glorious kingdom. Mary clung to Jesus her friend, the Jesus she wanted, the Jesus she had missed and she did not comprehend the Jesus she needed, Jesus Christ the Lord.

It is easy for us to cling to a version of Jesus that is far less than Jesus as He truly is. Many today have become convinced that Jesus takes away all suffering or that Jesus’ principle work is to give us all the things we want; this Jesus is like the businessman who works under the principle that the customer is always right and seeks to give his customers what they want to make them happy. Others see Jesus as one standing outside just hoping to find someone who will take Him in; this Jesus is little more than a pathetic sniveling salesman hoping to hock his second hand wares. These are just a couple of examples of Jesus as we want Him, but numerous more could be named. The point is that these versions of Jesus are not the Jesus presented in the New Testament. To embrace Jesus other than He truly is not faith, it is idolatry.

We must not cling to a Jesus of our own making; we must seek to know Him as He revealed Himself as He truly is. In particular we must understand the implications of Christ’s resurrection and ascension, in other words, we must embrace Jesus Christ the Lord. There is not space here to unpack all that took place when Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, so in subsequent posts I will begin looking at how the world and our lives are changed because Jesus Christ ascended to His Father.

“And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

1 Corinthians 2:1-2