John 20:17

"Jesus said to her, 'Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'"

As we move into Easter weekend, this is a great verse in which Jesus tells us he is God. The context is that Mary has just found the tomb to be empty. She is talking with the resurrected Jesus. We are on the other side of the cross, and things are different. We can see some of those differences in what Jesus says in this verse.

Looking at just the second part of this verse...

Jesus now calls his disciples "brethren". He's never done that before. Why? Because until now they were not truly "sons" and "heirs of God."

And He also wants them to know that his Father was their Father, and His God was their God.

It is important to notice that Jesus does refer to, "Our Father". He breaks it into two parts: "My Father and your Father." There is a reason for this.

God is His Father in a different sense than He is our Father. When we are thinking about Jesus' relationship with the Father we naturaly think of it as being the same as our relationship. It is not.

God is the Father of the Lord Jesus from all eternity. Jesus is the son eternally. But not only that, the Son is equal to the Father. They are one. They always have been and always will be.

On the other hand we are sons of God by adoption. It is not an eternal relationship, but a relationship that begins when we are saved. So unlike the relationship between the Father and the Son, our relationship with God has a beginning.

Also, we are not equal with God and never will be. We are not God.

This is why Jesus speaks of My father, and your Father separately. Because the relationship is different.

This is why Jesus speaks of My God and your God separately. Because the relationship is different.

Is Jesus saying that His Father is not the same as my Father (and yours) in heaven? No. There is ONE GOD--one Father in heaven. Jesus' Father and our Father (yours and mine) are the same Father in heaven (God).

Is Jesus saying that He is a separate god (or being) from His Father in heaven? No. Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus showing us what a relationship with the Father should be like. Jesus is now illustrating for us what the future holds for us, and what our relationship with the Father will be like after we die.

Jesus could have gone straight to heaven after he died. Why didn't he?

One reason is because he still needed to show us what happens after we die.

Why are we confident that we will be resurrected after we physically die? Why are we confident we will have resurrected bodies? What type of relationship will we have with God? Jesus has shown us. What happened with Jesus is what will happen with us. We will die physically, and then be resurrected and we will ascend to heaven to be with the Father. Just as we saw Jesus do. What a glorious and wonderful God we have who understands our doubts and continues to provide examples for us so we don't worry, but can have confidence in our future life in eternity. Praise the Lord!