Let us turn to the Word of God,
and hear it in the Gospel of John,
chapter 20, and
we shall read from the first verse.
The first day of the week cometh Mary
Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto
the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away
from the sepulchre.
Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter,
and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved.
And saith unto them, They have taken away
the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we
know not where they have laid him.
Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple,
and came to the sepulchre.
So they ran both together, and the other
disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to
the sepulchre.
And he stooping down, and looking in, saw
the linen clothes lying, yet went he not
in.
Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went
into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes
lie, and the napkin that was about his
head, not lying with the linen clothes, but
wrapped together in a place by itself.
Then went in also that other disciple, which
came first to the sepulchre, and he saw
and believed.
For as yet they knew not the scripture,
that he must rise again from the dead.
Then the disciples went away again, unto their
own home.
But Mary stood without at the sepulchre, weeping.
And as she wept, she stooped down, and
looked into the sepulchre, and seeth two angels
in white sitting, the one at the head,
and the other at the feet, where the
body of Jesus had lain.
And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest
thou?
She saith unto them, Because they have taken
away my Lord, and I know not where
they have laid him.
And when she had thus said, she turned
herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew
not that it was Jesus.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou,
whom seekest thou?
She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith
unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him
hence, tell me where thou hast laid him,
and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her, Mary.
She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni,
which is to say, Master.
Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not, for
I am not yet ascended to my Father.
But go to my brethren, and say unto
them, I ascend unto my Father, and your
Father, and to my God, and your God.
Mary Magdalene came, and told the disciples, that
she had seen the Lord, and that he
had spoken these things unto her.
Let us look at this passage of Scripture
this morning, and particularly these closing words in
the passage.
We have here the record of the first
resurrection appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
the first word and message which he spoke
after his resurrection.
He appeared first unto Mary Magdalene, and unto
Mary was committed the duty of carrying this
glorious word to the disciples, which is reported
in the 17th verse.
Go unto them, and say unto them, I
ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and
to my God, and your God.
The opening verses of the chapter, as you
see, record for us the events of that
morning as they unfolded.
How this little band of women went early
in the morning.
Here we are told specifically of Mary Magdalene.
We know from the other Gospels that there
were other women who went with her.
How as they walked, they spoke of how
that stone could possibly be rolled away.
How they hoped to pay this last tribute
of respect to the dead body of the
Saviour.
Then coming to the tomb, they find it
not closed, but the stone rolled aside.
Mary, as we read here in John's Gospel,
fled back into Jerusalem to summon the help
of the disciples.
Surely enemies had been to the tomb of
Christ.
They have taken away my Lord, she said,
and I know not where they have laid
him.
Then we have this graphic description of Simon
Peter and John himself, no doubt the apostle
who does not name himself, the disciple whom
Jesus loved.
These two men rushing back with Mary or
at least Mary following them, arriving at the
tomb, the first not venturing to enter in,
and then John enters and sees the clothes
laid neatly in their respective places and we
read of John that he saw and believed,
but evidently not so with Simon Peter and
certainly not so with Mary Magdalene.
And the two men, the two apostles, turn
about and return to Jerusalem and Mary Magdalene
is left alone in verse 11 at the
empty sepulcher.
But, that is after the disciples went away
again unto their own home, but Mary stood
without at the sepulcher weeping.
And the word weeping is expressive of the
overwhelming grief and sorrow which then afflicted her.
Weeping, it was unrestrained and loud sobbing.
She stands there knowing not where else to
go, the last place where her Lord was
seen and she stands there in the profoundest
grief.
And let us think for a moment what
is the reason for this grief.
There was a time when Mary Magdalene had
sorrow of a very different kind.
She came from that little village of Magdala
on the coast of Galilee and the Scriptures
tell us that at that period of her
life before she became a Christian, not only
did she walk according to the course of
this world, but she was trodden down by
spiritual powers of evil.
She was the one, you remember, out of
whom Jesus cast seven devils.
And from the time then that she came
to know Christ, the one purpose of her
living was to follow Him, to be His
disciple.
She did not wish that He should be
out of her sight.
And when Jesus had last turned to go
down to Jerusalem, she also went.
And she was there with that little band
of noble women who stood at the cross
beholding the Savior's last sufferings.
And she also was there when they took
His body to the tomb of Joseph of
Arimathea on that Friday night.
And here again we find her on this
Sunday morning, the first among the first who
came to the tomb and coming in order
that she might have some comfort and some
solace, not from communion indeed with Christ, which
she expected not, but at least she could
do some final honor to His dead corpse.
And certainly the corpse of Christ was more
valuable to her than the whole world.
And now when that very body has been
removed, the utmost depth of her grief is
the realization as it came to her then
that she had no more contact and no
more communion with Jesus Christ.
And what then is the feature which stands
out most in Mary Magdalene?
It is of course her love and her
devotion to Him.
It was love that led to that grief.
It was love which had led her there
to that tomb on this morning and love
which kept her like a statue there when
there seemed to be no purpose of staying.
She stood without at the sepulcher weeping.
And then we have this beautiful account of
how these two angels appear to her standing
or appearing where the body of Jesus had
lain and speaking to her these words, Woman,
why weepest thou?
And she, so absorbed in her grief, unable
to realize that these are no enemies of
Christ, how can she say when she sees
such angelic messengers that they have taken away
my Lord?
But she makes no such reason.
And then at length when she sees through
her tears the very figure of Christ, again
she is so absorbed in her grief that
she knows not that it is Jesus.
And there is this absorbing power in true
love.
We weep, do we not?
There in the Pentateuch that Jacob served seven
years for the love which he had for
Rachel and received to him but a few
days.
And when men and women are brought to
love Christ, he receives a place in their
attention which becomes supreme and the power of
spiritual love is a power which ought to
absorb our hearts.
It is one of the heaviest charges which
God brings against His people sometimes that they
have forgotten their first love, that they do
not seek Him as once they did.
You remember how God says through Jeremiah to
the people, I remember thee, the love of
thine espouses when thou wentest after me in
the wilderness, in a land that was not
sown.
Speaking of the devotion of Israel in that
early period of their history when they wholly
followed after God and they were absorbed in
devotion to Him.
It is that same kind of love and
devotion to Christ which is seen here in
Mary Magdalene.
She loved the Savior and therefore she wept
and refused to be comforted.
And it is that love to the person
of Christ which is here rewarded by the
first resurrection appearance of Jesus.
Recognizing Him not, telling Him that if He
knew where the body of Christ was, let
Him make the information known and she would
carry Him away.
Then at once in verse 16, Jesus saith
unto her, Mary, and she saith unto Him,
Rabboni, that is to say, my Master, my
Lord.
And she throws herself, it would seem, at
His feet to hold Him and to worship
Him.
We have then these words that Jesus now
speaks to her.
His first resurrection words.
And His words fall into two parts.
In the first place, you notice that He
has a personal instruction and direction to her.
Touch me not.
And then He has a duty which she
is to perform.
She is to go to His brethren and
deliver to them a message.
Now, let us look firstly at the statement,
the command, Touch me not.
And there is at first sight some difficulty
in the interpretation of these words.
Because our Lord here forbids what elsewhere He
permits and indeed what else where He commands.
We read in Matthew's Gospel, for example, that
on the same morning when the other band
of women, when Mary having become separated from
them, they go back into Jerusalem.
And as they went back, they met with
Jesus and we read that as they met
Him, they came, worshipped and held Him by
the feet.
And our Lord did not forbid them.
And then in the case of Thomas, you
recall, not only was Thomas to touch Christ,
but he was commanded to do so.
Reach hither, said Jesus, thy hand and thrust
it into my side.
Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands.
And Thomas did so.
But here with Mary Magdalene, she is specifically
forbidden.
Touch me not, said Jesus.
And then the reason why she is not
to touch Jesus seems to increase the mystery.
Because Jesus says, touch me not, for I
am not yet ascended to my Father.
That is to say, Mary's touching of Jesus
must wait and must wait till He is
ascended to the Father.
But how can she touch Him when He
is at the right hand of the majesty
of God on high?
How can she touch Him then and not
touch Him now when He stands before her?
Now, I believe that the explanation for this
difficulty lies entirely in Mary Magdalene's attitude at
this moment.
She did not need to be assured that
it was indeed the risen Christ.
She knew Him.
She did not need, like Thomas, to see
and to feel the wounds in His side
to be persuaded it was Jesus.
She did not have that need.
On the contrary, her assurance and her recognition
were so complete that evidently she throws herself
before Him in worship and she seems to
assume that all the former enjoyment of Christ's
bodily presence was once more restored to them,
as in those days when they would sit
with Him around the table and when John
would rest his head on Christ's bosom and
others would anoint his head and others His
feet.
And the bodily presence of Christ was the
very center of their living and the joy
of their lives.
And now Christ was restored to them.
And what more was needed, she thought, than
that Jesus should remain with them in His
humanity.
But no, says our Lord, touch me not,
for and then He goes on with these
amazing words which are to show her that
the old mode of fellowship, the old means
of communion with Christ, these were not to
be renewed.
Instead, something higher and more glorious was to
be given.
He had not risen from the dead to
carry with them upon earth.
They must not be addicted to His bodily
presence, who had risen rather because, as He
says, I have not yet ascended, that is
His purpose.
He is to enter heaven itself in our
nature as our forerunner to prepare a place
for us, to be our representative and our
advocate at the right hand of God and
there from that presence to send upon us
His Holy Spirit so that we might be
the temples of the living God until at
last when the days of our earthly pilgrimage
are over, we might be with Him and
then behold His glory.
He had more to do.
He is saying to her, I am not
yet finished with my work.
I have to ascend and then when I
ascend, you will have communion with me.
You will touch me, touch me indeed not
with the earthly hand but with the bonds
of faith and by my Spirit.
Touch me not, for I am not yet
ascended, but when I am ascended, then indeed
you will have communion with me, more valuable
and more precious even than that which was
known in the days of my earthly ministry.
I believe that that is the explanation of
our Lord's words to Mary.
And before we pass from those simple words,
touch me not, let us just note that
these words show to us that devotion to
Christ is no safeguard against error.
Here was one who, as we saw, was
full of passionate devotion to the person of
her Saviour and yet she needs this word
of correction and instruction, touch me not.
It is a great mistake to think that
if we do but feel love to Christ
in our hearts, then that is really all
that is needed.
We may be sincere in our love to
Christ and yet there may be great areas
of ignorance and misunderstanding in which we need
the teaching of Christ and the instruction of
the Word of God.
And I feel and I believe in these
days that love to Christ and a well
-grounded faith, these two things bound together are
our chief need.
We might say something more also on these
words touch me not, but I think that
perhaps time prevents it if you look at
the book which has been brought to your
attention this morning by Dr. Morton Smith.
You will find there a chapter on the
worship of God and in that chapter Dr.
Smith indicates how where there is true spiritual
worship certain things exist and when worship becomes
carnal, then other things are introduced and he
takes up the question that we spoke of
in the Institute this week on pictures of
Christ and that sort of thing.
Now there is a principle here and it
is in our text.
Touch me not.
Do not be addicted to the bodily and
the external.
You who are to be my people are
to know me by the Spirit.
And the great protestant reformation you might say
in a word was a recovery of the
meaning of this word touch me not through
those long dark middle ages.
What was there in the church?
There was endless manufacturing of statues and pictures
and images and cribs and Easter celebrations and
with all these bodily representations of Christ there
was deadness and death because they had forgotten
these three simple words touch me not for
I am not yet ascended.
The reformation with the outpouring of the Spirit
of God renewed to the church the knowledge
that our communion with Christ is not by
the visual, is not by the touch of
the hand or the sight of the eye
but by the power and the illumination of
the Spirit of God sent down from heaven.
Now finally let's just comment for a few
moments on this first resurrection message.
One of the protestant reformers has this nice
statement.
He says sin came into the world by
Eve, a woman.
Yet God in mercy ordered things so that
of a woman Christ was born.
To a woman Christ first appeared after he
rose from the dead and a woman was
the first to carry the news of his
resurrection.
And the news that she carried is the
message that we have in verse 17.
Go to my brethren and say unto them
I ascend unto my Father and your Father
and to my God and your God.
There are two things here that we must
look at before we close.
Firstly notice the title which is given here
to the disciples by our Lord.
Go he says, go to my brethren.
And he is here using his resurrection as
the seal, as the pledge of a new
relationship.
He had risen from the dead not in
his own name only, but in ours.
And on the basis of that resurrection he
would have affirmed to the disciples that this
relationship exists.
Go to my brethren.
Now do you recall in the Gospels where
our Lord addresses the disciples as brethren?
I do not think you will be able
to do that because the truth is that
although he spoke to them as friends, he
spoke to them as little children, he spoke
to them as servants, he did not give
them the title of brethren.
That is not how he spoke to them.
This is the first time in the Gospel
record that he gives them this specific title.
The title which comes so gloriously into its
full exposition in the Epistles.
Go to my brethren.
It is true on one occasion in the
Gospel of Matthew, Jesus turned about him in
a great multitude of people and he said,
Whosoever will do the will of my Father
which is in heaven, the same is my
brother and sister and mother.
But that was not using the word as
a title.
It was using it to show that the
bonds of spiritual relationship transcend all other and
those bonds require obedience to God.
But here it is a specific title.
And the question then ought to be asked,
why does Jesus use this word now and
not before?
Were the disciples in some more advanced position
of grace now?
On the contrary, their condition was at its
lowest ebb.
Had they not fled from the high priest's
palace in the case of Peter, denied Jesus
with oaths, were in their depths of unbelief
and doubt and fear and yet it is
to them at this time that Jesus says,
go to my brethren.
The truth is this, that sonship, sonship, comes
through Calvary and through Calvary alone.
And it was therefore in the purpose of
God necessary that Christ should suffer and that
He should die.
And that the exposition of the merits and
the benefits of His death should more largely
await His resurrection and the descent of the
Holy Spirit.
And this is the first and the greatest
of all benefits of the atonement linked only
with the second about which we must now
speak.
But the first and the highest, we have
a new relationship.
We are sons of God.
Go, said Jesus, to my brethren and say
unto them, I ascend unto my Father and
your Father and my God and your God.
That is to say that Jesus' relationship to
the Father is now ours.
He is our Father and He is our
God because Jesus, by His death and rising
again, is one with His people.
And let us never forget that, my friends,
in our lowest ebb of spiritual life.
If we truly love Him, if we have
faith in the Redeemer, our relationship stands not
upon our obedience or upon what we can
do or have done, but it stands upon
the foundation of Christ's own obedience unto death.
Therefore He says, go to my brethren and
say unto them, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, says the
Apostle, having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ unto Himself to the
praise of the glory of His grace.
There is here then a new relationship and
linked with this new relationship there is finally
this new inheritance.
The Gospels and the epistles in many, many
places speak of the inheritance which belongs to
the Christian.
By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, says Peter,
we have been begotten again unto a lively
hope, to an inheritance, to a possession incorruptible
and undefiled and that fadeth not away.
The resurrection of Christ, the knowledge that He
has triumphed over sin in our name, that
is our pledge that there is an inheritance
for us.
And what is that inheritance?
Well, it includes many things.
It even includes, says Paul, writing to the
Corinthians, the fact that the saints shall judge
the world.
How sinful and how carnal for Christians to
take pride in men.
Why, says Paul, don't you realize that whether
Paul or Apollos or the world or life
or death, all things are yours and ye
are Christ's.
It is the vastness of the Christian's inheritance
by grace.
He that spared not his own son but
delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him freely give us all
things?
And yet all these other verses which speak
of the inheritance of the Christian cannot put
that inheritance more comprehensively than it is put
in these words.
The inheritance of the Christian, as spoken of
here by Jesus, is that he has God
for his God and the Father for his
Father.
Go unto them and say unto them, and
this is the message, My Father, your Father,
my God and your God.
That is to say that all that is
in God of his wisdom and grace and
power and sufficiency, that will be mine according
to my needs.
He is my Father.
He will be my God in life and
in death.
Even when I lay in the tomb, when
body and soul are separated, then he will
still be my God, my Father and my
God.
And there is no higher basis of assurance
given to us than this simple truth.
When the disciples were fearful, wondering how at
last they could possibly reach that kingdom of
light and glory, you remember the Saviour's words
to them, It is your Father's good pleasure
to give you a kingdom.
That is the Father's pleasure.
And when they feared that they knew so
little about Heaven that it was a region
to them unknown, why, said Jesus, it is
my Father's house.
That is how you are to think of
it.
And when we say we don't know how
to pray and we find prayer difficult as
we do, well then, said Jesus, remember when
you pray, say, Our Father, who art in
Heaven.
And when you are fearful and wondering how
your needs will be met and what the
morrow will bring, then, said Jesus, remember that
your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
of these things.
Know that you have God as your God
and the Father as your Father and then
there is nothing else that you need to
know.
When one of the Scottish martyrs died on
the scaffold, before he died, he stood and
sang the words of Psalm 103 in the
medical version, Such pity as a father has
unto his children, dear, like pity shows the
Lord to such as worship him in fear.
And then he was hung.
One of the recorders of that event said
that the spirit of James Renwick fled homewards
on the words, Such pity as a father
has.
We have a Father in Heaven and He
is our God and Redeemer.
And the application of this, my Christian friends,
is that we who are God's people are
to prize and to use our relationship.
And if we are brethren to the Redeemer,
then what obligations lie upon us that Christ
should be seen in us?
I knew an old Christian pastor who encouraged
me a great deal in the early days
of my ministry.
He was then at the very end of
his own and waiting his home call.
And in the last days of his life,
whenever I visited him, he would always quote
to me the same verse of a hymn.
I think he probably didn't recall that he
did this every time I went.
But I never wearied of it because it
so much exemplified his uppermost concerns.
And the last time I saw him, he
quoted it again.
The words were these, Christ Jesus hath triumphed
o'er Satan and death and now praise
His name, I am free.
And though to the Father's right hand He
hath gone, can others see Jesus in me?
When he came to that last line, tears
would begin to run down his face.
And though to the Father's right hand He
hath gone, He hath offended to the Father
and to His God and our God, but
can others see Jesus in me?
That is the concern and the prayer of
the Christian.
If we love Him, if we have come
to His tomb, if we know Him in
His resurrection power, then may His Spirit live
in us so that others may know that
we belong to Christ and that Christ is
ours.
Let us pray.
O God, our Father in Heaven, Thou knowest
our great weakness, our need and our frailty.
We pray Thee that by the grace of
Thy Spirit Thou would strengthen us in the
inward man.
Reveal to us more of Thyself.
Teach us more deeply in Thy Word.
And quicken within our hearts true love to
Thy great name.
And do Thou deliver us from all our
fears and unbelief.
May we know by the power of Thine
own arm what it is to live in
Thy strength.
Hear our cry and accept our praise as
we ask it all in Jesus' name.
Amen.