Scriptural Gymnastics?
QUESTION?
I hope that you can help me. I have always been confused by a couple of scriptural passages. In Luke 23:43 our Lord tells the good thief that "this day (i.e., Friday) you will be with me in paradise" yet in John 20:17 He tells Mary "do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father." He says this on Easter Sunday, of course. If He has not yet ascended, in what way could the good thief be with him in paradise on Friday. I have a friend of mine that says that our Lord is saying that He has not yet had the formal Ascension, but that He did go to paradise, but this seems to me to make our Lord seem to be being tricky which I know is never the case; if this is the explanation, then why can not Mary hold Him, when the disciples later probably hugged the stuffing out of Him (I know I would have--after the initial shock) when he appeared to them in the upper room? God bless you and your work.
ANSWER!
Christ soul went immediately into paradise, which is the place of rest of the souls of the Just. Sheol, or Abrahams bosom or hades or the Limbo of the fathers (all expressions of the place of the souls of the Just) was now made a paradise by our Lord going there. Heaven was not open yet. In 2 Cor 12:3 “paradise” is used as a synonym for heaven.
Luke 23: 46-"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Because Jesus Christ in virtue of his divinity is omnipresent (he is everywhere) and because he possesses "the beautific vision" he is present to His Father and His Father is present to Him always.
1 Peter 3: 19-"in which he [Jesus] went to preach to the spirits in prison."
Christ body went to the grave for 3 days. When Jesus said to Mary after his resurrection, "I have not yet ascended to my Father," he was referring to his body ascending into heaven 40 days after the resurrection, not to his soul going to heaven between death and resurrection.
In 2 Cor 12:3 “paradise” is used as a synonym for heaven.
In Ephesians 4:8-10 'When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, but he gave gifts to men. In saying, 'He ascended,' what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth?' He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.' [Here is your answer, in ascending to heaven after giving up the spirit he also descended into Sheol, Hades, {the world of the dead} to preach to the spirits in prison].
In John 20:17 Jesus says: “Do not hold me.” Mary Magdalene wants to keep Jesus with her, but he must first ascend to the Father. Only then will he come again to his disciples in spiritual and sacramental ways (Ignatius Study Bible). “Do not hold me” indicates that our Lord is telling Mary to release her hold on him, to let him go, since she will have another chance to see him before his ascension (Navarre Commentary).