The Celibate Christ: A Suggestive Reading of John 20:17 μή μου ἅπτου οὔπω γὰρ ἀναβέβηκα (“Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended”)

Abstract

Jesus’ words in John 20:17, μή μου ἅπτου, οὔπω γὰρ ἀναβέβηκα (“Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended”), have been read in a variety of ways in their reception history. In this thesis I offer a new reading using a social-rhetorical method, examining both the language of the text and its social environment. I argue that the text is best understood as a reference to sexual abstinence. My hypothesis is that “Do not touch me” is a sexual euphemism that John uses in the narrative to refer obliquely to the celibate state of Jesus. “For I have not yet ascended” refers to the entry of Jesus into the anticipated angelic life where physical desire will no longer exist. John’s purpose in including this episode illustrates his emphasis on the continued human embodiment of Jesus between his resurrection and ascension. Chapter One introduces the structure and themes of the thesis, and gives a justification for the pursual of my argument and grounds for my approach. The description of my method in this chapter shows the complexity of interpreting a verse which is intended to be a euphemism, by nature indirect and obtuse, so a language inquiry alone is insufficient. Instead, several clues external to the workings of the verse must be drawn in to shed light on its ambiguity. Chapter Two offers an illustrative survey of other suggested explanations of the verse. Chapter Three starts to lay the groundwork for my own reading of this verse by uncovering the preference given to voluntary celibacy over marriage in the ideology of the New Testament (NT). In this respect, I argue that the distance Jesus places between himself and his foremost female companion in John 20:17 is consonant with this theme in the NT canon. The chapter further uncovers the common NT understanding that the resurrected state was celibate, just as Jesus was in John 20:17. It seems from additional NT texts that celibacy could be undertaken as a form of anticipation of resurrection, in the belief that immortal life began proleptically at baptism. The subsequent chapters validate my hypothesis in a variety of ways. Chapter Four shows that ἅπτομαι is used as a sexual euphemism in other texts, as I am arguing is the case in John 20:17. In certain non-biblical texts, the relationship of Jesus and Mary Magdalene is consistently portrayed as ascetic, a vestige of the story of 20:17. I argue from two of these texts, which reflect belief in an immediate, disembodied ascension at death, that 20:17 offers a contradiction in its focus on Jesus’ body, and its emphasis on his physicality, until after his ascension. Chapter Five locates John’s narrative in Judaea, the home of Essenism, and suggests that both groups shared an espousal of eschatological celibacy. In Chapter Six, a comparison of 20:17 with Jesus’ subsequent invitation to Thomas to touch him (20:27), shows a common Johannine theme of revealing Jesus as resurrected and embodied. The thesis offers a fresh – albeit a suggestive – reading of “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended.” I argue that John intends not to confound his readers – despite the experience of many a reader – but to communicate subtly that Jesus remained celibate and embodied at his resurrection. “Do not touch me” indicates he is both touchable and therefore embodied as a man, but as a celibate he is refusing touch from Mary. His anticipated leaving at ascension, however, will release him from embodiment. Despite the refusal to touch and impending departure, Mary is not left bereft, but the reader is left with the sense that somehow the relationship will continue beyond such an ascension.