What does John 20:17 mean?
This response is to Mary Magdalene, who has just realized that the person speaking to her at Jesus' empty grave is Christ, Himself (John 20:11–16). The term Jesus uses here is haptou, which implies a close, clutching action. Later, Jesus will invite others to physically touch Him (John 20:27). So, His meaning here does not seem to be that Mary should not contact Him, at all. It more likely means that she is not to stay there, or keep clinging to Him, but that she needs to go and tell the disciples what she has seen.That the first person given a message from the resurrected Christ is a woman would have gone against that era's prejudices about women. The message Jesus asks her to relate, in fact, will be waved off by the disciples as feminine hysteria (Luke 24:10–11, 22–24).
The details of Jesus' statement are somewhat vague. He refers to the disciples as "brothers," reinforcing the idea of salvation as a spiritual adoption by God (Hebrews 2:11–18). Referring to the Father as both "[His] God and [their] God" also echoes the same idea. Christ also refers to His ascension, which will come as He leaves the apostles to grow the infant church (Acts 1:6–11).