JN 20:17 Jesus *said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’ ”
Joh 20:27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing."
Mary was forbidden but Thomas was allowed. What do we make of this? Some say that between Mary in John 20:17 and Thomas in John 20:27, the Lord Jesus ascended to the Father and offered Himself there and went back to earth to meet with His disciples.
They say that Mary was forbidden because the Lord Jesus was yet to ascend to heaven but Thomas was allowed because He already ascended to the Father by this time and returned back to earth. They say that it was to fulfill the type of the First-fruits offering in Leviticus 23. That just as the First-fruits was first offered to God so the Lord Jesus did not allow Mary to touch Him because He must first offer Himself to God. God first, then Man.
This interpretation is possible and there is nothing heretical about it. But I think the simplest way to look at this event is this:
He was correcting two attitudes here. It appears that Mary wanted to have the physical presence of the Lord Jesus permanently. She would never let Him go from her ever again. Notice that Mary was "clinging" to Him. It's in the present tense in the Greek. Mary was continually clinging, fastening and binding herself to Him.
And so the Lord Jesus had to correct her attitude expressed in her actions: "Stop clinging to Me Mary with an attitude like that. I must go to the Father and present Myself to Him for you, for your brethren and for all the world. There I will physically present Myself to Him for your benefit. Mary, you will never lose Me again even though you may not see me physically for a time. I will be with the Father for you, and there I will prepare a place for you that you maybe with Me forever (John 14:3) when the time comes."
With Thomas' case, it is different. It was unbelief as to His physical resurrection. And so He allowed him to touch Him to prove His physical resurrection.
