Go and Tell

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

GO AND TELL

John 20:17-18

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.'"  18 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.

NIV

Why would Jesus tell Mary not to hold on to him? It appears from some of the other accounts, which Mary, as well as the other women who were there, fell prostrate and were holding his feet, worshipping him as the risen Lord. But Jesus did not want them to stay there, but to go and tell his disciples. By telling them he had not yet returned to the Father he was telling them he would be around a little longer and they would have opportunity to see him for a little while longer. There are several life applications here for us. One of them is about going and telling my brothers Jesus is alive and well. It is not that it was not a good thing for Mary to worship Jesus, but she was involved in just her own life, thinking only of herself, her joy of being with Jesus. He wanted her to share the good news with the others, so they too might have the joy of knowing he was alive. It is a good thing for us to have a very personal relationship with Jesus, but should we keep him all to ourselves? It does not appear that Jesus told Mary to show his disciples her good life and maybe then they would guess that he was alive and well, but he told her to go tell them. We might learn the same lesson here in that it simply may not be enough to simply live a good life, doing good deeds in our community as an individual or as a church, if we are not telling the others that Jesus is alive and well. Sure it is a good thing to help those who need help. Yes, we are told when we give to the poor, do not stand on the corner and beat our chest, doing our good deeds in front of men. But we are told to go and tell. All sorts of civic humanistic organizations do good deeds, helping the poor so what does that prove about God if we do the same things, unless we tell them Jesus is alive and well and that he has returned to his Father and God and their Father and God. Mary did exactly that, she went to his disciples and proclaimed, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said things to her. All the good deeds we can do will never replace telling them we have seen the Lord and this is what he has said.  It might be acceptable to show and tell, but we certainly need to go and tell.