All,
I found something today in my Bible that I was wondering about. This might be something for the pastor to preach on sometime.
In John 20:17 NIV Jesus tells Marry "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father." Other text says "Do not touch me".
In Luke 20:39 NIV Jesus says "Look at my hands and feet. It is I myself. Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
Once more in John 20:27 NIV Jesus says" Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put in my side. Stop doubting and belive."
If Jesus didn't allow Marry to touch Him; Why would He allow those who doubted to touch HIm?
Later,
Noel"Spirit Rider"Bell
This is the same type of Bible reading that makes anything possible when reading the Bible. One takes part of a verse and uses it to point out a purpose. There are two contexts that you must look at
1. The cultural context
2. The literary context
Basically you completly ignored the second one completly.
Mary that you are speaking of is not his mother (just so the people who haven't run to their Bibles are not confused). It is Mary Magdelene, the prostitute.
The complete verse is
John 20:17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
The King James Version says "touch me not" but every other version says, "do not hold onto me" or "do not cling to me"
So the answer comes down to this. The question has no real point once you examine the problem. Jesus told Mary Magdelene not to cling to him, but tell his disciples that he was alive. The other was to tell Thomas, that if he needed that much to believe then he would do it.
XkeithX
