Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary John 20:17

"Jesus saith to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto my brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God." — John 20:17 (ASV)

In reply to her action, Jesus said, “Do not hold onto me.” He was not refusing to be touched but was making clear that she did not need to detain him, for he had not yet ascended to the Father. He planned to remain with the disciples for a little while; she need not fear that he would vanish immediately. Ultimately he would return to God, and he urged her to tell the disciples that he would do so. The word “brothers” (GK 81) includes more than the members of his immediate family. It placed the disciples on a new plane of relationship with himself. Having passed through death and resurrection, Jesus had become the representative man, the Lord from heaven, who “is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Hebrews 2:11; cf. also Mk 3:33-34).

The way Jesus stated his destination is illuminating: “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Nowhere in the Gospels did Jesus personally address God as “our Father” or “our God.” The reason for the distinction in his word to Mary was not, of course, that there were two gods, but that her relationship with God was different from his. He is the eternal Son of the Father; she, as well as all the disciples, had become a member of the family by receiving him (cf. 1:12). Both relationships concerned only one God.