Out of Limbo

We only have two days to clean up any of our messes from 2013.  We don't have any giant messes, so that's good. We've been a little too full of cookies to think straight the last few days, but we're back on track now. It's a narrow window, because I believe more cookies may be happening for the New Year's Eve celebration. But not that narrow, because we have quite a few days before we have to dust off the Three Wise Men.  

So going back to this post about the good thief and where Jesus was when He was dead (you'll need a quick refresher to keep up)

The reason I thought that was that when Mary Magdalene saw Him risen, He told her not to touch Him as He had not yet been to His Father. Why say that, if He had been in Heaven already? I assumed From the Apostles Creed as well, that he had "descended into hell" or been with the souks in purgatory until then...oh well...I'm not that elderly and don't have a bladder infection as far as I know, just confused.

Glad to hear your health is not impaired.

I understand you're confusion. But it's actually not confusing.

Okay, it's confusing enough that St. Thomas Aquinas had to take time out and explain it. Thank goodness for that!

So....the "descended into hell" thing is about Jesus going to the Limbo of the Fathers and letting everyone out. 

He didn't say He had not yet been in Heaven. He said He had not yet ascended to the Father. When He ascended, He took his mortal body with Him. When He died on the cross, He didn't take His mortal body with Him.

Of course, this is a very important distinction, because we must believe that Jesus died and remained dead to believe the most important tenet of our faith, that Jesus rose again from the dead (and that He is God, that's really important, too).  Some people have been tempted to surmise that Jesus was pretty beat up, but didn't actually die. Then after a couple of days mending, He was able to get up again. That is not what happened.

St. Thomas Aquinas has a pretty mystical answer.

Also keep in mind that there are very good reasons that you should pay attention to what the Church says about what the Bible says, because if you go digging around in there on your own, you're liable to make some understandable but crucial mistakes. For example, the translation of the the word "touch".  The original word doesn't mean touch the way you and I would think of that. It means "cling".  It's more closely translated to say, "Do not cling to me", which indicates that Jesus didn't want a hug until everyone understood what was going on with His new glorified body.

Later, there are hugs all around.

I hope this finally clears it up for you.

Jesus wasn't lying or negating Himself.  Let's not miss the point of the story of the good thief. He was a believer and his belief was rewarded. Jesus died and opened Heaven so this man could enter.  That's what we need to know. That's what God wants us to remember.