Pints With Aquinas - I Am Not Yet Ascended to My Father | Bible Study w/ Aquinas

Episode Date: July 16, 2020

Today we'll take a look at what Thomas Aquinas has to say about our Lord's words to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection: "Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father." SPONSORS Hallow: https://hallow.onelink.me/Q25Y/80833e8 Covenant Eyes: https://www.covenanteyes.com/ (use promo code: mattfradd) STRIVE: https://www.strive21.com/ GIVING  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mattfradd This show (and all the plans we have in store) wouldn’t be possible without you. I can’t thank those of you who support me enough. Seriously! Thanks for essentially being a co-producer coproducer of the show. LINKS Website: https://pintswithaquinas.com/ Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/matt-fradd FREE 21 Day Detox From Porn Course: https://www.strive21.com/ SOCIAL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattfradd Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattfradd Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfradd MY BOOKS  Does God Exist: https://www.amazon.com/Does-God-Exist-Socratic-Dialogue-ebook/dp/B081ZGYJW3/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=fradd&qid=1586377974&sr=8-9 Marian Consecration With Aquinas: https://www.amazon.com/Marian-Consecration-Aquinas-Growing-Closer-ebook/dp/B083XRQMTF/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=fradd&qid=1586379026&sr=8-4 The Porn Myth: https://www.ignatius.com/The-Porn-Myth-P1985.aspx CONTACT Book me to speak: https://www.mattfradd.com/speakerrequestform

Hello and welcome to another Bible study with Aquinas. My name is Matt Fradd. This is Pints with Aquinas. If you have not yet subscribed to this channel, please do that. It really helps us out. And I want you to leave a comment below and tell me what struck you from this Bible study today. I've actually been really enjoying reading what you have to say because I come at it from a particular angle. I take out certain things, but it's been fascinating to see just how rich the Word of God is. So please let me know in the comment section below what struck you. Let's begin by making the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

All right, here's the passage I want to read today. Let's just throw this up here. Now, we're only going to look at one verse, and I think you've probably seen this by now, right? If you've been watching or listening to our Bible studies with Aquinas, that Aquinas has a lot to say on everything. He can spend a few pages on a couple of words. So, I want to give you the context and then tell you the line we're going to be focusing on. Okay, so this comes from, where are we, John chapter 20. Okay, starting at verse 11. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stopped to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain,

one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her,

I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabbanai, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. Oh my goodness, just reading that, so much is striking me. We're not going to kind of get into it, because you and I are much more interested in what Aquinas has to say, not necessarily what I have to say, but just twice there, woman, why are you weeping? She's been asked that twice in a matter of moments. I love just the kind of human error there.

She just figured out, she just figured he was the gardener. And I could see her like recounting this to the apostles in great joy later on, you know. And then I turn around and there's this guy, right? And I just think he's the gardener. I just think that's beautiful. What else struck me here? Yeah, if you've carried him away, tell me where you've laid him and I'll take him away. I love that she doesn't recognize him until he looks at her and says her name.

Which is pretty amazing. Because he could have showed her the wounds in his hands or feet. He could have said, I am Jesus. He could have done a number of things that would seem to us to be sort of more clear. But instead, he says one word, Mary, and she turns to him and says, teacher. There's so much that we could drill into there, but we're not going to because we don't have the time. Here's what we want to drill into, verses 17 and 18. This is all I want to touch upon today, and we'll see what Aquinas has to say. All right, so just one more time, just these two verses. Jesus said to her, do not cling

to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. The reason I pulled this up is I don't know what that means. And I've never really understood what that means. Do not touch me or do not cling to me? What does that mean? I've heard some people ruminate on that, but I've never really understood it. So that's why I opened up this big commentary today so that we can learn together. So do not cling to me, do not touch me. I've not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them,

I am ascending to my Father, your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her. All right? So that's what we're going to look at. We're reading from Aquinas' commentary on John's Gospel. 2, 5, 1, 5. All right, so let's see here. Mary said to Jesus, okay, I don't want to look at that bit, sorry.

Okay, here we go. Jesus said to her, do not touch me. All right. The evangelist shows Mary receiving instructions from Christ. One in the negative, do not touch me. The other positive, go to my brethren. He does two things about the first. He states the prohibition and then gives the reason for it. Christ warns Mary not to touch him, saying, do not touch me.

Even though we do not read here that Mary wanted to touch Christ. Here's what's great. Let me just pause a moment and say, Aquinas is going to now say, let's look at what Gregory has to say. Let's look at what Augustine has to say. Let's look at what Chrysostom has to say. So he begins with Gregory. Gregory says, we can see from this that Mary fell at the feet of Christ and wanted to grasp the one she had recognized. He adds the reason, that is Christ, for I have not yet ascended to my father. It seems from this that after his resurrection, Christ did not want to be touched before he ascended. But the opposite is found in Luke.

Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones. Luke 24, 39. It is no answer to say that Christ wanted to be touched by his disciples, but not by the women. For we see in Matthew that Mary Magdalene and other women came to him and did grasp him by his feet. Matthew 28, 9. Therefore, we should understand according to the letter of the text that Mary saw angels at two times. The first time was with the other women, when she saw one angel sitting on the stone. We see that in Matthew 28, 2 and Mark 16, 5. The second time was when she returned and saw two angels inside the tomb, John 20, 12.

Similarly, she also saw Christ two times. First in the garden, when she thought he was the gardener, as we just saw. Second, she saw him when she was running with the other women to tell the disciples what they had seen in order to strengthen them in their faith in the resurrection. It was this second time that they approached and held Christ's feet. Mark 28 9, Mark 16 9. Okay. Aquinas says that there are two mystical reasons why Christ did not want to be touched. First, because this particular woman signified the church of the Gentiles, which was not to touch Christ by faith until he had ascended to the Father. A congregation of people will

surround you, for their sakes return on high. Psalm 7, 8. The other reason is given by Augustine in his work, The Trinity. It is that touch is the last stage of knowledge. When we see something, we know it to a certain extent, but when we touch it, our knowledge is complete. But when we touch it, our knowledge is complete. Now, this particular woman had some faith in Christ, which was that he was a holy man. And this was why she called him Master or Teacher, Rabboni. But she had not yet reached the point of believing that he was equal to the Father and one with God. Thus, Christ says, do not touch me. That is, do not allow what you now believe of me to be the limit of your faith,

for I have not yet ascended to my Father. That is, in your heart, because you do not believe that I am one with him, yet she did believe this later. In a way, Christ did ascend to the Father within her when she had advanced in the faith to the point of believing that he was equal to the Father. Or we could say with Chrysostom, and this is sort of the interpretation that makes most sense to me, that after this woman saw that Christ had arisen, she thought he was in the same state as he was before, having a life subject to death. She wanted to be with him as she was before his passion, and in her joy thought there was nothing extraordinary about him. Although Christ's flesh had become much better by arising. To correct this impression, Christ said, do not touch me.

It was like saying, do you think that I have a mortal life and can associate with you as before? Even though we once regarded Christ from a human point of view, we regard him thus no longer, 2 Corinthians 5.16. This is why he adds, for I have not yet ascended to my father. Why? He adds, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Accordingly, this statement does not give the reason for his prohibition, but an answer to an implicit question. It was like saying, although you see me remaining here, it is not because my flesh is not glorified,

but because I have not yet ascended to my Father. For before he ascended, he wanted to strengthen in the hearts of the apostles, their faith in his resurrection and his divinity. After this, all right, so that kind of sums up that first part, that negative part. And here's the positive part. After this, he gives his positive directions, go to my brethren. It's also beautiful, I just noticed too, to my brethren. It's also beautiful, I just noticed too, as we were reading this scripture earlier, I have the English standard version here. It's really interesting to me that he calls his disciples brothers in the sort of same breath that he refers to the father, which is both his father and our father, right? So he says, go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father.

That's really cool. Christ is our brother and his Father is our Father. Isn't that nice? That's that one sentence, go to my brothers and say to them, that is my brothers, I am ascending to my father and to your father.

That's beautiful. Okay. So Christ tells her, go to my brethren, that is the apostles, because they are his brethren. By his having the same nature, he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, we read in Hebrews 2.17. And they are His brethren by being adopted through grace, because they are the adopted children of His Father, of whom He is the natural Son.

Now, note the three privileges given to Mary Magdalene. the three privileges given to Mary Magdalene. First, she had the privilege of being a prophet because she was worthy enough to see the angels, for a prophet is an intermediary between angels and people. Second, she had the dignity or rank of an angel insofar as she looked upon Christ, of whom the angels desire to look. Third, she had the office of an apostle. Indeed, she was an apostle to the apostles. That's really cool, hey? Let me say that again. Third, she had the office of an apostle. Indeed, she was an apostle to the apostles, insofar as it was her task to announce our Lord's resurrection to the disciples. Thus, just as it was a woman who was the first to announce the words of death, so it was a woman who would

be the first to announce the words of life. And say to them, I ascend to my Father and to your Father. We read in John 16, Ephesians 4 10 he who descended is he who ascended far above the heavens alright we could say much more but I want to leave it there I want to leave it at that

I'm going to end by throwing this passage back up on the screen why don't we read it together and then just take some time I mean this you guys can use these Bible studies however you want but what I would recommend is after we chat together like this and some time. I mean, you guys can use these Bible studies however you want, but what I would recommend is after we chat together like this, and by chat together, I mean me give you a monologue.

It's not really a chat, is it? You could open up your scriptures to these verses and just sit in silence and say, Holy Spirit, what do you want me to see in this? Speak to me through your word. And then just take five, ten minutes of silence, just with this word. You know, what struck you? What sticks out to you? And then dwell on that, you know? And then again, please tell us below. I want to learn from you. So let's close by reading this. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb.

And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?

Supposing him to be the gardener. She said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, Rabbani, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord,

and that he had said these things to her in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen