They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don't know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
‘Woman," he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher).
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.”’
Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her.” (John 20:10-18 NIV)
In talking with students recently who participated in a six-week course on basics of Christianity, a number of them talked about their appreciation of learning about the Holy Spirit. They said their churches rarely mentioned Him.
Francis Chan, in his latest book, The Forgotten God, laments the Church’s lack of focus and appreciation for the Holy Spirit. He cites John 16:7 (“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”) as the reason the Church should pay much more attention to the Holy Spirit. In fact, this may be why the risen Jesus told Mary not to hold on to Him.
During His life, the disciples tried to hold on to Jesus, resisting His talk of having to die. As she stood outside the tomb, not knowing Jesus was alive, Mary still referred to Him as her Lord. Like many do, Mary found it hard to let go of Jesus the man. And when she discovered He was no longer dead, she wanted to hang on to Him even tighter.
But Jesus’ words to her are revealing. “Don’t hold on to me.” Instead she was instructed to go tell the disciples that He was returning to His Father and their Father. Jesus was proclaiming good news, but it is likely the disciples didn’t get it. They, too, wanted to hold on to Jesus. Later, when Jesus ascended into Heaven, the disciples were saddened, but a few days afterwards they fully understood the message Jesus had earlier sent to them through Mary. They received the Holy Spirit, the long-promised Counselor (Acts 2). From then on, they were not the same men; they were transformed.
Holding on to Jesus the man is a tempting thing to do, but it is only through His Holy Spirit that we can be transformed. Churches make a grave mistake in holding on to Jesus at the expense of the Holy Spirit. By doing so, they prevent the Holy Spirit from coming into their midst with power to be transformed and to be vehicles of transformation.
Today, recognize the importance of the Holy Spirit in your own walk with Jesus. He left this earth in order that His Spirit could come with the power to transform your life. Don’t make the mistake of holding on to Jesus. Let His Spirit come fill you with His power and transform you into the man or woman He created you to be.
© Jim Musser 2015
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