25. (Verse 17). Jesus says to her. Here upon Mary, now knowing him, is enjoined the publication of the manifestation: and first he corrects her; second, he sends her to announce.
He corrects her in this that he says: Do not touch me: and he gives the reason: For I have not yet ascended to my Father.
26. But this text seems to contain falsity and doubtfulness:
1. Because the other Evangelists say that "the women approached and held his feet."
2. Likewise, what kind of reason is this: For I have not yet ascended to my Father? On the contrary, this is a reason why she ought to have touched him, because if he had ascended, she could not touch him.
On this account, this text is expounded in multiple ways. Augustine expounds it concerning the touch of the heart or of faith: whence he says: " Do not touch me, that is, do not believe in me in the way you still understand. For how did she not still believe in him carnally, she who wept for him as a man? And the following text says this: For I have not yet ascended to my Father, that is, to equality with the Father in your heart."
According to Gregory, it is understood concerning bodily touch: but the Lord does not prohibit this, as he says, "because he shrank from the touch of women, since it is written: The women approached and held his feet; " but in this he wished to show her unworthy to touch him as one not rightly believing, or not fully: and he proves this through the following text: " For I have not yet ascended to the Father. In our heart, Jesus ascends to the Father when he is believed to be equal to the Father."
According to Chrysostom, it is understood concerning bodily touch: and the Lord does not prohibit touching, but intimates that he is to be touched with greater reverence than when he was passible: and the following reason indicates this, in which the Lord says: I have not yet ascended, but nevertheless I am preparing myself for the ascension, and therefore I am not with you as before.
This can also be explained in another way: because Mary was burning to see the Lord, whence she had also searched most diligently, she wished to fall upon his feet with kisses and not let him go; but the Lord rebuked her, showing that this is not the place of enjoyment and of touching Christ, but with the Father, whence he says: Do not touch me, that is, do not wish to enjoy me by touching me here: for I have not yet ascended, where is the place of enjoyment, where you will never be frustrated; but now it is necessary to be separated bodily. Whence he sends her to announce what she had seen.
But go to my brothers, namely the Apostles, of whom it is said in the Psalm: "I will declare your name to my brothers: in the midst of the Church I will praise you"; and tell them, announce the truth of the rising Christ, which consists in the dignity of glorification, by which he was now fit to go into heaven; therefore he says: Tell them: I ascend: Ephesians four: "He who descended, he himself is the one who ascended above all the heavens." The truth of Christ's resurrection also consists in the excellence of the Divinity: whence he says: To my Father and your Father, not in the same way mine as yours: whence Gregory says: " Mine by nature, yours by grace." The truth of Christ's resurrection also consists in the excellence of the humanity, and he touches upon this when he says: My God and your God: Augustine says: " My God, under whom I too am man, your God, between whom and himself I am Mediator. "
27. (Verse 18). Mary Magdalene therefore came. Here the fifth point is noted, namely the report of the manifestation made by Magdalene: whence it says: Announcing to the disciples: Because I have seen the Lord, and these things he said to me, supply: which have been said above: Chrysostom says: "She announces both the vision and the words, so that they might be instructed in both."
Questions.
28. Question I. But the question is asked here first concerning the order of this manifestation.
For if the disciples were more worthy, it seems that the Lord ought to have appeared to them first, and again that the disciples should teach the women rather than the women the disciples.
I respond: It must be said that this was done by the order of divine dispensation and by the merit of human solicitude: the order of divine dispensation: on account of which Gregory says: "Because in paradise the woman served death to the man, from the sepulcher the woman announces life to men, and she narrates the words of the life-giver, she who had narrated the words of the death-dealing serpent." The merit of human solicitude, because, when the disciples withdrew, the woman remained afflicted and desolate: and therefore she more quickly merited to be consoled and refreshed by the Lord's appearance.
29. Question II. Likewise it is asked: since Peter loved the Lord so fervently, why did he not remain at the tomb weeping, as Mary did, but departed?
And Chrysostom responds: "The female sex is in a certain way more given to compassion"; and therefore do not marvel that Mary wept bitterly at the sepulcher, while Peter felt no such compassion.
Others take the reason from the side of faith: for because the woman hoped less concerning the resurrection, therefore she grieved more over the body having been taken away; but Peter, although not fully, nevertheless in some way had confidence: whence it is said in Luke that "he went away wondering to himself."
Others take the reason from the side of love, namely because at that time she burned more vehemently than the disciples and was more fervent, therefore she was also more solicitous.
30. Question III. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says, that while Mary wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb.
Why was she looking, since she knew he was not there?
Gregory responds: "For one who loves, to have looked once does not suffice, because the force of love multiplies the intensity of searching." And Augustine says that "because she loved vehemently, therefore she thought that neither her own nor others' eyes should easily be believed."
31. Question IV. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says, that after the departure of the disciples she saw Angels: because it is said in Luke twenty-four that the women reported to the Apostles that they had seen Angels; and then it is said that the disciples went to the tomb.
Augustine responds in the third book of On the Harmony of the Evangelists that "Luke says this by way of recapitulation; for they ran to the tomb when it had only been announced concerning the body having been taken away; and afterward the vision of the Angels occurred, which they subsequently reported."
32. Question V. Likewise there is a doubt: 1. Because in Mark sixteen it is said of one Angel only: Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right, covered with a white robe.