Holding Jesus by the Feet

I t is often said that the statement that “the women held Jesus by the feet and worshiped him,” is a palpable contradiction of His command to Mary not to touch Him.
In Matt. 28:9, we read that as “they went [according to the angel’s word] to tell his disciples, behold Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet and worshiped him.”
In John 20:17, when Mary seems ready to approach the Lord in her accustomed manner,
Jesus said 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.
It seems to us impossible that any one can see the beauty of these two Scriptures, and the entire absence of contradiction, unless the different lines of truth and the relationships of which each evangelist treats are discerned. This too resolves many other difficulties. The moral perfection of Scripture is then most striking.
In Matthew we have, from first to last, facts which are for the most part narrated as having a Jewish bearing. Hence we find much of that kind of instruction which is not found in the other gospels. When our Lord spake of His death and resurrection, He added, “But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee” (Matt. 26:32). The Messiah having been rejected by the Jews and Jerusalem, He now intimates that when raised from among the dead, He will still recognize the “poor of the flock” in Galilee, who will thus be a sample of the future remnant spoken of by the prophets that will be brought into their promised blessing at His appearing and kingdom. This is doubtless why we have no ascension in Matthew. This is also why the angel sent the message to the disciples to meet Jesus in Galilee, which was afterwards confirmed by our Lord, and acted on by the disciples (Matt. 28:5, 10, 16). It is here that Jesus as Messiah, having died for that “nation,” is now able, on the ground of His work, to recognize relationship with the faithful residue. Hence, in keeping with this, the women are allowed to hold Him by the feet and worship Him; for the Jewish thought is to have Messiah bodily with them on earth. This will be manifested in due time.
But John’s is a different line of things. All through his gospel we have the Father and the Son. Jesus is here looked at as having taught believers that they were loved of the Father, given to Him by the Father, and that their destiny was the Father’s house. When He went back to the Father, He spake of sending the Holy Spirit to be with us and in us during all the time of His absence; and that He would come again and receive us unto Himself, that where He is there we might be also. Therefore, in John 20:17, we have the new relationships of being God’s children, and Christ’s brethren, announced, not in connection with a Messiah seen on earth, but with the Lord of glory, not here but in heaven. It is in principle Christianity and not Judaism. Mary therefore was forbidden to “touch” Him, but was sent to tell others of His sphere henceforth being in ascension and not on earth. They were to know Him, serve Him, and honor Him as gone back to the Father. The Christian’s relationships therefore are heavenly, and for ever. Precious message!
Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
O, the untold blessedness of these new relationships, founded on Christ’s work of eternal redemption!