Does Jesus Hate Women? Homily for Tuesday in the Octave of Easter, 2024

 

“Stop Holding on to Me” Tuesday in the Octave of Easter 2024

 

Jesus makes a strange demand of Mary Magdalene in today’s Gospel “stop holding on to me”  Does he not women to touch him?  St. Thomas Aquinas quotes St. Augustine on this Passage: St. Augustine says this: “Didn’t Jesus tell Thomas to touch His side?  Who can be so absurd as to suppose that disciples should touch Him before He ascended to His Father, but not that women should touch Him before He ascended?  We read of women touching Him before He ascended, including Mary Magdalene herself in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 28:9 “And behold, Jesus met them [Mary Magdalene and the other Mary] on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet.”)

 

Rather, St. Augustine points out that Jesus commands Mary Magdalene not to touch yet in this Gospel because Mary Magdalene was still weeping at the tomb, and so believed in Him only as a man.  Also, St. John Chrysostom says that Jesus also told Mary Magdalene not to touch Him “so as to allow her to feel awe in talking with Him, as Jesus also no longer keeps company with His disciples”