- HOME
- MESSAGE MENU #1
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MESSAGE MENU #2
- OVERLOOKING THE SOURCE OF OUR STRENGTH AND SALVATION
- FALSE PROPHETS OR SERVANTS OF YAHWEH?
- BOOK OF MATTHEW WRITTEN IN HEBREW OR IN GREEK?
- CONCERNING BABYLON AND CURRENT EVENTS
- THE FIRSTFRUITS OF YAHWEH/YAHWSHUA
- WHAT DID YAHWSHUA MEAN WHEN HE SAID "TOUCH ME NOT"?
- WHERE WAS YAHWEH'S SHEKINAH GLORY AT THE TIME OF YAWHSHUA?
- THE WAVE-SHEAF CEREMONY
-
MESSAGE MENU #3
- THE FIRST VISIBLE LUNAR CRESCENT
- TITHING CHART BASED ON WEEKLY INCOME
- HOW TO TITHE BASED ON YOUR ANNUAL SALARY
- MAP OF ANCIENT KHAZARIA
- MAP OF EPHRAYIM AND MANNASAH, ACCORDING TO THE ANGLO-SAXONS
- THE NEW COVENANT IS CONDITIONAL
- BARACK OBAMA: A PROPHET OF ISLAM
- TIMELINE CHART OF YAHSHUA'S DEATH AND RESURRECTION
- THE SACRED NAMES IN ANCIENT PALEO-HEBREW
- ZECHARYAH 12:9
- THE 24 ELDERS ARE ALREADY IN THRONES IN HEAVEN
- THE INFAMOUS "AN EYE FOR AN EYE" LAW: ABOLISHED OR IN EFFECT?
- RE LOST TEN TRIBES
From the Series
"Understanding the Wave-Sheaf and the Omer Count til Shavuot"
Message #2
"Understanding the Wave-Sheaf and the Omer Count til Shavuot"
Message #2
WHAT DID YAHWSHUA
MEAN WHEN HE SAID
"TOUCH ME NOT"?
"Touch Me Not!" said our Master Yahwshua Ha Mashiach to Mary right after His resurrection. Or...at least that's what many greco-roman translated-to-english Bibles say He said!
Should we carelessly go by everything the translators and scribes put into all these bibles, or should we carefully examine the original Scriptures to see if they could have made some mistakes?
There is a passage in the Book of John that gives the expositors and doctrinal scholars no end of trouble (and we are quoting from "christian bibles"):
"Jesus said to her [Mary], 'Do not hold me [cling to me], for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'" (John 20:17).
My beloved brethren, many assume that the reason Yahwshua told Mary not to touch Him after he had been resurrected, was because He had not yet ascended to YAHWEH the Father to be "accepted" of Him as our "wave sheaf offering."
Is this true? Did the Messiah disappear and ascend to heaven shortly after he was seen by Mary, and return to earth shortly afterwards, before he revealed himself to all the disciples? Let's understand this!
When Scripture states something which can be intentionally unspecific or vague, why should humans have the authority to force into it, something that is specific and unspecified? If Yahweh is talking about certain specific "days" or "nights," why should we be talking about certain specific "hours"? Should not we consider that perhaps the seemingly vague term "days" is specific enough for Yahweh?
If so, then it should be specific enough for us, too!
But first, let me ask you this simple question. How many "days and nights" are there between any Monday and any Thrusday? NOT "HOURS," my brethren, just "days and nights"? Two? Four? Neither. There are "three days and three nights" between Monday and Thrusday, no matter how you look at it.
Even if we counted from Monday at 11:59PM until Thursday at 12:01AM, there are still "three days and three nights" comprised in that period of time, even if its not exactly 72 hours. And even if we "switched hours" (to make happy those that are "hour-oriented") and counted from Monday at 9:00AM until Thursday at 1:00PM, there are still "three days and three nights" within that period of time! There is no less than that! There is no amount of specific hours required, for it to be "three days and three nights"!
Let me put it another way: If I am going to be away from my home during those days, I would certainly need a place to sleep on Monday night from 11:59PM, until it's morning! If I will be staying at a hotel between those dates and times, I will be charged for three nights, even if I decide to leave the hotel on Thursday at 12:01AM or at 4:00AM or at 8:00AM! Why not? I was certainly there occupying my room on Wednesday night, because the night begins right after the sun went down on that day!
Now brethren, If I tell you I am going to visit my mother in Chicago, and that I will be leaving on Monday, and will be back home after "three days and nights," would you call me a lier if I take a plane to Chicago on Monday at 9AM and return to my hometown airport on Thursday at 2:00PM...more than 72 hours later?
My beloved, why would anyone think they can rigthfully call me a lier? I did not break my word and return a day earlier! I did not stay over for four days either!
I stayed away "three days and three nights," exacly as I had stated! In the first place, I never stated I would stay over in Chicago for "exactly 72 hours," so why call me a lier if I stayed for 76?
To anyone who dared call me a lier for that, I would say: "Look, I said I would be away for "three days and three nights," and not for "72 hours" just so no one would come later and call me a lier if I stayed for 76 hours! DO NOT PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH!"
Beloved, Yahweh would say exactly the same thing: "Don't call Me a lier, and DON'T PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH"!
Writes a "pastor" of one of the Worldwide Church of God offshoots:
"We know that Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights -- or 72 hours (Matt. 12:40). This period of time would begin at about 6:00 PM Wednesday evening, when He was put into the tomb, just before sunset (John 19:31, 38-42). Therefore, the 72 hours He was buried would have ended about 6:00 PM, 72 hours later -- or Saturday evening! What did Jesus do from 6:00 PM in the evening of Saturday until the next morning when He revealed Himself to Mary, and later to the other disciples?"
We are not specifically told, in the Scriptures, what He did during all that night. But neither does Scripture state that He had to be in the grave for a specific "72 HOURS."
My brethren, it is entirely true that Mashiach died and was buried on a Wednesday before the sun set and prior to the commencement of the Feast of Passover on Abib 15th. And it is entirely true that by the time Mary went to visit the grave on the morning of the first day of the week (Sunday), Yahushua was out of the grave. He was in the grave for "three days and three nights" just as Yahweh had promised He would.
The rest of what that minister wrote about the alleged "72 hours" could well be true also, my dear brethren, but Scritures do not necessarily prove this. And we should not assume, and "put words in Yahweh's mouth" or "add to Scripture."
First of all, the Messiah was NOT required to be in the grave for exactly 72 hours --- all He was required to stay in the grave to fulfill prophecy, was "three days and three nights," and, being an unprecise phrase in regards to hours, this was a minimum time-span He needed to be in the grave. "Three days and three nights" was unspecific term but was a minimum length of time!
In other words, if He stayed in the grave for LESS than that, He would not have qualified to be our Messiah. In that case He would have been a liar, exactly as I would have been, if I had returned from my trip to Chicago a day or a night earlier than I had stated!
But on the other hand, my dear fellow "called-out sheep" of Yahwshua, if He rose from the grave anytime shortly AFTER the "three days and three nights" were met, He would also have fulfilled prophecy!
In other words, He could just as well have resurrected a few hours after the "three days and three nights" and still meet the assigned time He was required in the grave, as long as He did not stay in the grave to complete a fourth day!
Therefore, from what we are told in the Holy Scriptures, He was NOT necessarily resurrected on the evening of the Sabbath, and did NOT have numerous hours to lollygag around before he revealed himself to Mary!
Brethren, why would Yahweh resurrect His Son at night, and have Him "roam around" in the middle of the dark night until it was morning? And doing what, during all those hours of night? Is He an Elohim of darkness, or of light?
You see, my beloed, all those important questions arise when we assume things and "add to Scripture" and put words in Yahweh's mouth; like when we say Yahweh said His Son would be in the grave for exactly 72 hours... Yahweh did not say that at all! Yahweh said "three days and three nights"! And He said just that, because that is just all we need to know to prove Yahwshua His Son is in fact the Messiah!
As the Scriptures clearly reveal, He was resurrected by "early in the morning of the First Day of the Week" --- probably not very long before the disciples found the tomb empty and Mary encountered the risen Messiah in the garden.
Continues our "assuming and confused" pastor friend:
"Why then do some think Jesus ascended at some moment, between the time He told Mary not to touch Him, and later that same day when He appeared to all the disciples? The reason is that when the women went to tell the others that angels had told them Jesus had arisen, and was going before them into Galilee, we read: 'And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him' (Matt. 28:9)."
The question here is: Why did Yahwshua tell Mary not to touch him, and yet the disciples held Him by the feet, worshipping him? The assumption is that between these two events, He very quickly ascended to Heaven and returned, being "accepted of the Father" --- so now they could "touch" him. But is this assumption correct?
Beloved, let's examine John 20:17 in detail and see what it really says!
It appears that both Matthew and Luke are saying that after the Messiah's resurrection He could be "held" and "handled," while John is saying that He could not even be "touched" in some translations. To answer this apparent contradiction we first need a mini-lesson in Greek grammar....because all these modern english translations have come from the greek texts.
In A Grammar Manual of the Greek New Testament by H.E. Dana and Julius Mantey, we find the following on page 301:
"(2) The Present Imperative in Prohibitions. The present tense is properly used for expressing CONTINUED ACTION. A prohibition in the present imperative demands that the action then in progress be stopped." Let's see some examples:
me krinete, ina me krithete, says the greek. And it is properly translated as:
"Stop judging, lest ye be judged," Matt. 7:1. You see? This is very different to:
"Do not judge, lest ye be judged," as many translators have rendered it.
ego eklan...leyei moi, me klaie, again, says the greek, which is properly translated:
"I was weeping; he says to me, Stop weeping," Rev. 5:4,5, is also very different to:
"I wept and wept; he says to me, do not weep," as the lying pen of the scribes and translators have written.
Now, let's apply this to the beginning of John 20:17, because this verse also includes a prohibitive, present imperative: me mou haptou. It would be correctly rendered as "Stop touching me." The point? As experts Greek grammar rules indicate, "A prohibition in the present imperative demands that ACTION then IN PROGRESS be stopped."
So in reality the greek text shows that Mary is already "doing the touching" of the risen Messiah. And also that the Messiah is commanding her to stop. But why? Help in answering this question can be found by looking at the word rendered "touch."
The Greek word rendered by translators as "touch" in the KJV, is haptou.
Walter Baur's A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament renders the word haptou as "touch, take hold of, hold."
Johannes Louw and Eugene Nida's Greek-English Lexicon gives two main definitions for this verb that fit the context of John 20:17: "hold on to" and "touch."
For the former, they then give a more in-depth definition of: "to hold on to an object -- 'to hold on to, to retain in the hand, to seize." For the latter, the in-depth definition is, "to touch, with the implication of relatively firm contact -- 'to touch.'"
In his commentary on the Gospel of John, Merril C. Tenny summarizes the lexical connotations of this verb as: "The verb hapto DOES NOT mean to touch with the tip of a finger to test whether an object is real or not, but to 'CLUTCH' or 'GRIP.'"
So according to greek wording in the original texts, Mary was not just touching the Messiah -- she was HOLDING him, GRASPING him, CLINGING to him! The Messiah is simply telling her to let go, enough is enough already! Putting all the above together, the first part of John 20:17 should be rendered, "Stop holding me..." or possibly, "Stop clinging to me..."
So the Messiah is being "held" in Matthew; He is being "handled" in Luke; and He is being "held" or "clung to" in John. There is, therefore, NO contradiction between the Gospels. In fact, the only reason there is even an "apparent contradiction" between these passages is because of the rather poor rendering of the greek texts in the KJV.
Compare, however, the translation of the NKJV, "Do not cling to me...." Even without using "Stop" this rendering still has the sense that the Messiah is commanding that Mary cease doing what she is ALREADY DOING. The Messiah would not have said "Do not cling to me" to someone who was not even touching Him!
Now let's answer WHY the Messiah is telling Mary to "Stop clinging to me...."
In Clarke's Commentary on the Bible we read the following:
"Touch me not -- ...[me mou haptou], cling not to me...[Hapto] has this sense in Job 31:7, where the Septuagint uses it for the Hebrew...dabak, which signifies to CLEAVE, CLING, STICK, or be GLUED to. From Matthew 28:9, it appears that some of the women held him by the feet and worshipped him. This probably Mary did; and our Lord seems to have spoken to her to this effect: "Spend no longer time with me now: I am not going immediately to heaven -- you will have several opportunities of seeing me again: but go [immediately] and tell my disciples, that I am, by and by, to ascend to my Father and God, who is your Father and God also. Therefore, let them take courage."
In Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible we find a similar analysis:
"Jesus saith unto her, touch me not,"....Not that his body was an aerial one, or a mere 'phantom,' which could not be touched...rather, because he had an errand to send her on to his disciples, WHICH REQUIRED HASTE; nor need she stay now to show her respect to him, since she would have opportunity enough to do that, before his ascension; which though it was to be quickly, yet not directly and immediately; and this seems to be the sense of our Lord's reason: for I am not yet ascended to my Father; nor shall I immediately go to Him; I shall make some stay upon earth; as he did, forty days before his ascension; when he intimates, she might see him again, and familiarly converse with him; at present he would have her stay no longer with him: but go [immediately] to my brethren..."
In Wesley's Notes we also read:
"20:17 Touch me not -- Or rather, Do not cling to me (for she held him by the feet,) Mt. 28:9. Detain me not now. You will have other opportunities of conversing with me. For I am not ascending to my Father -- I have not yet left the world. But go IMMEDIATELY to my brethren..."
Still others have proposed that perhaps Yahwshua ordered Mary not to hold Him because Mary could have been having her period and was ceremonially unclean. But we won't assume as others do, nor go into that and make doctrine of it. Whatever the reason, Mary was not to touch Him at that time because one way or another she could have compromised Yahwshua's holiness.
When you think about it, dearly beloved, this was the MOST MOMENTOUS event in the history of mankind! Without the resurrection there is nothing -- this life is all there is, no "life after death," nothing -- just a huge blank! With the resurrection of the Messiah, mankind could now "reach for the stars" -- become leaders, "kings and priests" in the World Tomorrow here on this earth -- and eventually the entire universe! Clearly Mary did not yet understand this, and instead of RUSHING immediately to inform the disciples that everything the scriptures pointed to had occurred, she clung to the Messiah and thereby received his loving rebuke!
Our misguided "pastor" friend tries to put a sexual slant on the Messiah's statement to Mary by saying:
"The simple answer is revealed by the Greek expression Jesus used, when He told Mary, 'Touch me not.' The word for 'touch' in this verse is haptomai and literally means, 'to attach oneself to, i.e., to touch (in many implied relations).' It is the same word Paul used in I Corinthians 7:1, where he wrote, speaking of sexual or sensual holding or hugging, and close bodily contact: 'It is good for a [single] man not to touch a woman.'"
My dear brethren, such are the ways of this world -- a sexual connotation has to be applied to almost everything!
The fact is, the Greek word haptomai has a broad range of meanings and could imply such connotation -- it means "to touch," "to lay hold on," "to embrace"; "to cling to," "to hurt," etc., (Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament, by Dawson and Taylor), but not necessarilry so. The word "haptomai" only takes on a "sexual" implication when used in a sexual context, like is the case in 1 Cor 7:1.
There is nothing peculiar about this, my beloved. If you think about it, in the english language, we have the exact same situation with the word "touch." When used in a sexual situation, the word "touch" has a sexual implication. But when not, it doesn't! Here the Messiah simply wanted Mary to stop clinging to His feet/worshipping him and RUSH and tell the disciples about the incredible event that had just taken place!
It is perfectly clear that Yahwshua Our Mashiach had not yet ascended to the heavenly throne of Yahweh as soon as He came out of the grave. But, did Yahwshua ascend to the Father on the same day He was resurrected? Or did He ascend some time later? Or maybe 40 days later...?
Find out the truth in the next message titled, "Where was Yahweh's Shekinah Glory at the Time of Yahwshua?" published under this same webpage.
Rafael
Should we carelessly go by everything the translators and scribes put into all these bibles, or should we carefully examine the original Scriptures to see if they could have made some mistakes?
There is a passage in the Book of John that gives the expositors and doctrinal scholars no end of trouble (and we are quoting from "christian bibles"):
"Jesus said to her [Mary], 'Do not hold me [cling to me], for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God'" (John 20:17).
My beloved brethren, many assume that the reason Yahwshua told Mary not to touch Him after he had been resurrected, was because He had not yet ascended to YAHWEH the Father to be "accepted" of Him as our "wave sheaf offering."
Is this true? Did the Messiah disappear and ascend to heaven shortly after he was seen by Mary, and return to earth shortly afterwards, before he revealed himself to all the disciples? Let's understand this!
When Scripture states something which can be intentionally unspecific or vague, why should humans have the authority to force into it, something that is specific and unspecified? If Yahweh is talking about certain specific "days" or "nights," why should we be talking about certain specific "hours"? Should not we consider that perhaps the seemingly vague term "days" is specific enough for Yahweh?
If so, then it should be specific enough for us, too!
But first, let me ask you this simple question. How many "days and nights" are there between any Monday and any Thrusday? NOT "HOURS," my brethren, just "days and nights"? Two? Four? Neither. There are "three days and three nights" between Monday and Thrusday, no matter how you look at it.
Even if we counted from Monday at 11:59PM until Thursday at 12:01AM, there are still "three days and three nights" comprised in that period of time, even if its not exactly 72 hours. And even if we "switched hours" (to make happy those that are "hour-oriented") and counted from Monday at 9:00AM until Thursday at 1:00PM, there are still "three days and three nights" within that period of time! There is no less than that! There is no amount of specific hours required, for it to be "three days and three nights"!
Let me put it another way: If I am going to be away from my home during those days, I would certainly need a place to sleep on Monday night from 11:59PM, until it's morning! If I will be staying at a hotel between those dates and times, I will be charged for three nights, even if I decide to leave the hotel on Thursday at 12:01AM or at 4:00AM or at 8:00AM! Why not? I was certainly there occupying my room on Wednesday night, because the night begins right after the sun went down on that day!
Now brethren, If I tell you I am going to visit my mother in Chicago, and that I will be leaving on Monday, and will be back home after "three days and nights," would you call me a lier if I take a plane to Chicago on Monday at 9AM and return to my hometown airport on Thursday at 2:00PM...more than 72 hours later?
My beloved, why would anyone think they can rigthfully call me a lier? I did not break my word and return a day earlier! I did not stay over for four days either!
I stayed away "three days and three nights," exacly as I had stated! In the first place, I never stated I would stay over in Chicago for "exactly 72 hours," so why call me a lier if I stayed for 76?
To anyone who dared call me a lier for that, I would say: "Look, I said I would be away for "three days and three nights," and not for "72 hours" just so no one would come later and call me a lier if I stayed for 76 hours! DO NOT PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH!"
Beloved, Yahweh would say exactly the same thing: "Don't call Me a lier, and DON'T PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH"!
Writes a "pastor" of one of the Worldwide Church of God offshoots:
"We know that Jesus was in the grave three days and three nights -- or 72 hours (Matt. 12:40). This period of time would begin at about 6:00 PM Wednesday evening, when He was put into the tomb, just before sunset (John 19:31, 38-42). Therefore, the 72 hours He was buried would have ended about 6:00 PM, 72 hours later -- or Saturday evening! What did Jesus do from 6:00 PM in the evening of Saturday until the next morning when He revealed Himself to Mary, and later to the other disciples?"
We are not specifically told, in the Scriptures, what He did during all that night. But neither does Scripture state that He had to be in the grave for a specific "72 HOURS."
My brethren, it is entirely true that Mashiach died and was buried on a Wednesday before the sun set and prior to the commencement of the Feast of Passover on Abib 15th. And it is entirely true that by the time Mary went to visit the grave on the morning of the first day of the week (Sunday), Yahushua was out of the grave. He was in the grave for "three days and three nights" just as Yahweh had promised He would.
The rest of what that minister wrote about the alleged "72 hours" could well be true also, my dear brethren, but Scritures do not necessarily prove this. And we should not assume, and "put words in Yahweh's mouth" or "add to Scripture."
First of all, the Messiah was NOT required to be in the grave for exactly 72 hours --- all He was required to stay in the grave to fulfill prophecy, was "three days and three nights," and, being an unprecise phrase in regards to hours, this was a minimum time-span He needed to be in the grave. "Three days and three nights" was unspecific term but was a minimum length of time!
In other words, if He stayed in the grave for LESS than that, He would not have qualified to be our Messiah. In that case He would have been a liar, exactly as I would have been, if I had returned from my trip to Chicago a day or a night earlier than I had stated!
But on the other hand, my dear fellow "called-out sheep" of Yahwshua, if He rose from the grave anytime shortly AFTER the "three days and three nights" were met, He would also have fulfilled prophecy!
In other words, He could just as well have resurrected a few hours after the "three days and three nights" and still meet the assigned time He was required in the grave, as long as He did not stay in the grave to complete a fourth day!
Therefore, from what we are told in the Holy Scriptures, He was NOT necessarily resurrected on the evening of the Sabbath, and did NOT have numerous hours to lollygag around before he revealed himself to Mary!
Brethren, why would Yahweh resurrect His Son at night, and have Him "roam around" in the middle of the dark night until it was morning? And doing what, during all those hours of night? Is He an Elohim of darkness, or of light?
You see, my beloed, all those important questions arise when we assume things and "add to Scripture" and put words in Yahweh's mouth; like when we say Yahweh said His Son would be in the grave for exactly 72 hours... Yahweh did not say that at all! Yahweh said "three days and three nights"! And He said just that, because that is just all we need to know to prove Yahwshua His Son is in fact the Messiah!
As the Scriptures clearly reveal, He was resurrected by "early in the morning of the First Day of the Week" --- probably not very long before the disciples found the tomb empty and Mary encountered the risen Messiah in the garden.
Continues our "assuming and confused" pastor friend:
"Why then do some think Jesus ascended at some moment, between the time He told Mary not to touch Him, and later that same day when He appeared to all the disciples? The reason is that when the women went to tell the others that angels had told them Jesus had arisen, and was going before them into Galilee, we read: 'And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him' (Matt. 28:9)."
The question here is: Why did Yahwshua tell Mary not to touch him, and yet the disciples held Him by the feet, worshipping him? The assumption is that between these two events, He very quickly ascended to Heaven and returned, being "accepted of the Father" --- so now they could "touch" him. But is this assumption correct?
Beloved, let's examine John 20:17 in detail and see what it really says!
It appears that both Matthew and Luke are saying that after the Messiah's resurrection He could be "held" and "handled," while John is saying that He could not even be "touched" in some translations. To answer this apparent contradiction we first need a mini-lesson in Greek grammar....because all these modern english translations have come from the greek texts.
In A Grammar Manual of the Greek New Testament by H.E. Dana and Julius Mantey, we find the following on page 301:
"(2) The Present Imperative in Prohibitions. The present tense is properly used for expressing CONTINUED ACTION. A prohibition in the present imperative demands that the action then in progress be stopped." Let's see some examples:
me krinete, ina me krithete, says the greek. And it is properly translated as:
"Stop judging, lest ye be judged," Matt. 7:1. You see? This is very different to:
"Do not judge, lest ye be judged," as many translators have rendered it.
ego eklan...leyei moi, me klaie, again, says the greek, which is properly translated:
"I was weeping; he says to me, Stop weeping," Rev. 5:4,5, is also very different to:
"I wept and wept; he says to me, do not weep," as the lying pen of the scribes and translators have written.
Now, let's apply this to the beginning of John 20:17, because this verse also includes a prohibitive, present imperative: me mou haptou. It would be correctly rendered as "Stop touching me." The point? As experts Greek grammar rules indicate, "A prohibition in the present imperative demands that ACTION then IN PROGRESS be stopped."
So in reality the greek text shows that Mary is already "doing the touching" of the risen Messiah. And also that the Messiah is commanding her to stop. But why? Help in answering this question can be found by looking at the word rendered "touch."
The Greek word rendered by translators as "touch" in the KJV, is haptou.
Walter Baur's A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament renders the word haptou as "touch, take hold of, hold."
Johannes Louw and Eugene Nida's Greek-English Lexicon gives two main definitions for this verb that fit the context of John 20:17: "hold on to" and "touch."
For the former, they then give a more in-depth definition of: "to hold on to an object -- 'to hold on to, to retain in the hand, to seize." For the latter, the in-depth definition is, "to touch, with the implication of relatively firm contact -- 'to touch.'"
In his commentary on the Gospel of John, Merril C. Tenny summarizes the lexical connotations of this verb as: "The verb hapto DOES NOT mean to touch with the tip of a finger to test whether an object is real or not, but to 'CLUTCH' or 'GRIP.'"
So according to greek wording in the original texts, Mary was not just touching the Messiah -- she was HOLDING him, GRASPING him, CLINGING to him! The Messiah is simply telling her to let go, enough is enough already! Putting all the above together, the first part of John 20:17 should be rendered, "Stop holding me..." or possibly, "Stop clinging to me..."
So the Messiah is being "held" in Matthew; He is being "handled" in Luke; and He is being "held" or "clung to" in John. There is, therefore, NO contradiction between the Gospels. In fact, the only reason there is even an "apparent contradiction" between these passages is because of the rather poor rendering of the greek texts in the KJV.
Compare, however, the translation of the NKJV, "Do not cling to me...." Even without using "Stop" this rendering still has the sense that the Messiah is commanding that Mary cease doing what she is ALREADY DOING. The Messiah would not have said "Do not cling to me" to someone who was not even touching Him!
Now let's answer WHY the Messiah is telling Mary to "Stop clinging to me...."
In Clarke's Commentary on the Bible we read the following:
"Touch me not -- ...[me mou haptou], cling not to me...[Hapto] has this sense in Job 31:7, where the Septuagint uses it for the Hebrew...dabak, which signifies to CLEAVE, CLING, STICK, or be GLUED to. From Matthew 28:9, it appears that some of the women held him by the feet and worshipped him. This probably Mary did; and our Lord seems to have spoken to her to this effect: "Spend no longer time with me now: I am not going immediately to heaven -- you will have several opportunities of seeing me again: but go [immediately] and tell my disciples, that I am, by and by, to ascend to my Father and God, who is your Father and God also. Therefore, let them take courage."
In Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible we find a similar analysis:
"Jesus saith unto her, touch me not,"....Not that his body was an aerial one, or a mere 'phantom,' which could not be touched...rather, because he had an errand to send her on to his disciples, WHICH REQUIRED HASTE; nor need she stay now to show her respect to him, since she would have opportunity enough to do that, before his ascension; which though it was to be quickly, yet not directly and immediately; and this seems to be the sense of our Lord's reason: for I am not yet ascended to my Father; nor shall I immediately go to Him; I shall make some stay upon earth; as he did, forty days before his ascension; when he intimates, she might see him again, and familiarly converse with him; at present he would have her stay no longer with him: but go [immediately] to my brethren..."
In Wesley's Notes we also read:
"20:17 Touch me not -- Or rather, Do not cling to me (for she held him by the feet,) Mt. 28:9. Detain me not now. You will have other opportunities of conversing with me. For I am not ascending to my Father -- I have not yet left the world. But go IMMEDIATELY to my brethren..."
Still others have proposed that perhaps Yahwshua ordered Mary not to hold Him because Mary could have been having her period and was ceremonially unclean. But we won't assume as others do, nor go into that and make doctrine of it. Whatever the reason, Mary was not to touch Him at that time because one way or another she could have compromised Yahwshua's holiness.
When you think about it, dearly beloved, this was the MOST MOMENTOUS event in the history of mankind! Without the resurrection there is nothing -- this life is all there is, no "life after death," nothing -- just a huge blank! With the resurrection of the Messiah, mankind could now "reach for the stars" -- become leaders, "kings and priests" in the World Tomorrow here on this earth -- and eventually the entire universe! Clearly Mary did not yet understand this, and instead of RUSHING immediately to inform the disciples that everything the scriptures pointed to had occurred, she clung to the Messiah and thereby received his loving rebuke!
Our misguided "pastor" friend tries to put a sexual slant on the Messiah's statement to Mary by saying:
"The simple answer is revealed by the Greek expression Jesus used, when He told Mary, 'Touch me not.' The word for 'touch' in this verse is haptomai and literally means, 'to attach oneself to, i.e., to touch (in many implied relations).' It is the same word Paul used in I Corinthians 7:1, where he wrote, speaking of sexual or sensual holding or hugging, and close bodily contact: 'It is good for a [single] man not to touch a woman.'"
My dear brethren, such are the ways of this world -- a sexual connotation has to be applied to almost everything!
The fact is, the Greek word haptomai has a broad range of meanings and could imply such connotation -- it means "to touch," "to lay hold on," "to embrace"; "to cling to," "to hurt," etc., (Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament, by Dawson and Taylor), but not necessarilry so. The word "haptomai" only takes on a "sexual" implication when used in a sexual context, like is the case in 1 Cor 7:1.
There is nothing peculiar about this, my beloved. If you think about it, in the english language, we have the exact same situation with the word "touch." When used in a sexual situation, the word "touch" has a sexual implication. But when not, it doesn't! Here the Messiah simply wanted Mary to stop clinging to His feet/worshipping him and RUSH and tell the disciples about the incredible event that had just taken place!
It is perfectly clear that Yahwshua Our Mashiach had not yet ascended to the heavenly throne of Yahweh as soon as He came out of the grave. But, did Yahwshua ascend to the Father on the same day He was resurrected? Or did He ascend some time later? Or maybe 40 days later...?
Find out the truth in the next message titled, "Where was Yahweh's Shekinah Glory at the Time of Yahwshua?" published under this same webpage.
Rafael