The Main Idea
Have you ever found yourself longing for the “good old days”? Music, fashion, and even worship songs bring back feelings of comfort and familiarity. But what if our faith is also caught in nostalgia…chasing a version of Jesus we once knew, rather than seeking the Jesus who is alive and present now? In John 20, Mary Magdalene looks for the Jesus she remembered… but instead encounters the resurrected Jesus, who gently tells her: “Do not cling to me.” Why? Sometimes, the new thing God wants to do in your life can’t begin until you let go of the old.
Scriptures
John 20: 11-18
11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.
Questions for Discussion
- What’s something from your past (a song, movie, place, or memory) that always brings you comfort or a sense of nostalgia?
- Have you ever felt like your relationship with God was stronger “back then”? What made that season feel different than now?
- Read John 20:13–18. Why do you think Mary didn’t recognize Jesus at first? What does this say about how we sometimes struggle to see what God is doing now?
- Jesus told Mary, “Do not hold on to me.” What is something in your faith or life that you might be clinging to from the past? How can your group support you in letting go to experience something new with Jesus?
Letting go isn’t easy. But just like Mary, we are invited to stop clinging to an old version of Jesus so we can recognize and follow the resurrected Jesus alive, powerful, and calling us forward. What might God be inviting you to release, so He can give you something new?
