When Jesus said, "Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you" (John 16:7), He was specifically referring to the time of His death and resurrection, not the time of the Ascension. Watch how this fits with the events that happened on Resurrection Sunday. That Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene was at the tomb before dawn: "Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance." (John 20:1) The risen Jesus appeared to Mary and told her that He had not yet returned to the Father. Then He told her to tell the disciples, "I am returning to my father": "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.'"" (John 20:17) On the morning of Resurrection Sunday, Jesus said that He was just about to go to the Father! Now, consider that Bible translators often have to make an interpretation of a passage in order to find the right English words to use. In this passage the NIV says "Do not hold on to me," but several other translations of the Bible (including literal translations) say "Don't touch Me" instead. So which translations are correct? The Greek word that is used in this passage is haptomai, which means: "To apply oneself to, to touch. Refers to such handling of an object as to exert a modifying influence upon it" (The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, Spiros Zodhiates, p.245, emphasis added) It turns out that the NIV never translates this Greek word as "hold on to" except in John 20:17 (above). Why? Because "hold on to" is not the normal meaning of this Greek word. The NIV translates haptomai as "marry" in 1 Corinthians 7:1 and as "harm" in 1 John 5:18, but in all of the other occurrences of haptomai in the New Testament, the NIV always translates it with the word "touch." That is the normal meaning of this Greek word (here are the references: Matthew 8:3, 15, 9:20-21, 29, 14:36, 17:7, 20:34, Mark 1:41, 3:10, 5:27-31, 6:56, 7:33, 8:22, 10:13, Luke 5:13, 6:19, 7:14, 39, 8:44-47, 18:15, 22:51, 2 Corinthians 6:17, and Colossians 2:21).