"Noli me Tangere": Post #3

          I've always been an art fan, although I don't always understand the "secret meaning" behind a painting or sculpture. As an English major, I feel like I'm always searching for some kind of secret meaning through the themes or colors. This semester at BYU I'm enrolled in an art history class, and I've been able to learn a bit more about the historical context of artworks. Just this last week in class, our professor displayed a painting from the Renaissance artist Titian, depicting Christ and Mary Magdalene just outside the garden tomb. Our teacher told us that this specific painting from Titian was definitely not his best, but had become famous due to its importance to England during World War II. During World War II in Europe, England worried that the art museums would be bombed and that the art would be destroyed, so they hauled it all out and put it into storage. However, the directors of The National Gallery in London thought that the people needed something to keep them going, so they decided to reinstall just one painting and rotate it out each month. The first painting they put back was Titian's "Noli me Tangere." In the painting, Mary reaches out to embrace the resurrected Lord, but Christ stands back, telling her, "Noli me Tangere," Latin for "touch me not." 
          In the Bible, Christ says to Mary, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended up to my Father." In that moment, Mary was probably full of love and devotion for her savior and wanted nothing more than to throw her arms around him and rejoice. But, as James E. Talmage suggests in Jesus the Christ, "no human hand was to be permitted to touch the Lord's resurrected and immortalized body until after He had presented Himself to the Father" (682). Talmage also suggests that maybe Mary approached him with personal and friendly feelings that were no longer appropriate for such a divine being. For whatever reason, Jesus had to withhold himself from Mary. That's why The National Gallery chose to display this painting first, because that's how England felt during the war. They felt that the Lord was holding back his blessings and presence from them. At the same time, they knew that eventually they would be able to embrace him; just like with Mary, the Lord would come to them and bless them with his matchless love and compassion. He would save them from the war.
          I'm sure Mary was confused as to why she couldn't touch her savior. Actually, if I were Mary, I would wonder why on earth he would hold himself back like that. I think sometimes we feel like that--that we're being held back from blessings we thought we would receive. We feel like God has forgotten us maybe. I know it's easier said than done, but we need to remember that God has a perfect plan. Those blessings will be given to us in the Lord's time! No matter how hard things get, we can reassure ourselves with the fact that one day we will be able to touch our savior and rejoice with him.