John 20:17 explained: touch me not

[The wind]

John 20:17 King James Version (KJV)
17 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.

John 20:27-28 King James Version (KJV)
27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.


The reason why Mary was not allowed to touch him and his disciples were was because they were baptized and we're clean and she was not at that time, as it is written:
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.

 

[Berserk]

First, the Gospels never say that Mary Magdalene was not allowed to touch the disciples!

Second, the Gospels never say that the disciples were baptized and Mary was not. Yes, Jesus' disciples baptized others (John 4:2), but Mary was one of a group of female disciples who traveled around with Jesus and supported Him financially (Luke 8:2-3). Amazingly, the only evidence we have of how Jesus' travel ministry was financially supported is this report that Jesus lived off the donations of His female disciples! His male disciples had left their jobs to follow Jesus.

Third, you have ignored the reason given in John 20:17 for keeping her hands off: "Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father."" So the fact that, a week later, Thomas is invited to touch Jesus' wounds implies that in the interval Jesus has indeed ascended to the Father and that this ascension precedes the final ascension that brings the resurrection appearances of Jesus to His disciples to a close (Acts 1:6-11).

 

[lforrest]

By tending to the dead body of Jesus wouldn't she be considered ceremonially unclean by the letter of the law?

 

[The wind]

By tending to the dead body of Jesus wouldn't she be considered ceremonially unclean by the letter of the law?

And yet he was willing to let his disciples touch him.

 

[Berserk]

Have you ever wondered why the Beloved Disciple wins his footrace with Peter to the Tomb, but then refuses to enter it until Peter goes in and confirms that Jesus' corpse is not present (John 20:1-10)? The answer is one of innumerable reasons why the Beloved Disciple is Jesus' brother James, and not John the son of Zebedee. James was a Nazirite and Nazirites take a vow to avoid corpse contamination. Perhaps I should start a thread laying out the evidence for this case in a comprehensive way.