John 20:15-18 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni! Which is to say, Beloved Husband. Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken these things unto her.
Why did Jesus wait 40 days to Ascend to Heaven?
A related question: Why did Jesus tell Mary, "do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to heaven"?
In the verses quoted above the King James version deceptively puts "the LORD", as if the original Greek had put the tetragrammaton for Jehovah in that place. They felt this was necessary, because these verses are so strongly anti-Trinitarian. Jesus was going to ascend to "his God, and Mary's God". That doesn't sound "co-equal" to me!
The Bible is clear; Jesus did not go to heaven until 40 days after his death. Also, he didn't allow Mary to touch him. Why was this? Think, Yeshua was dead, and now alive. The dead are unclean. One cannot touch a dead body without being unclean for seven days. Even if one touches a grave that held a dead person, one becomes unclean. Jesus was in a grave. This made him unclean. He needed to be purified from contact with death. There is another aspect. Jesus came to life. What happens when a male baby is born? The mother is secluded for fourty days, and then presents the son to his father. Jesus waited forty days before ascending to his Father. This was the period of time it took for a newborn infant to become clean from the quickening process! Jesus really was born again, literally. And we too will be born again in the Resurrection.
John 20:22-29 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
After eight days, Jesus allowed Doubting Thomas Didymus to touch him, to prove who he was. This was sufficient time for the red heifer cleansing. There is no evidence that Yeshua touched anyone before that time.
If Jesus was God, why would he need a 40 day period of cleansing? Rather, he was the Son of God, going up to heaven to stand before his Father's throne, and then to sit in that same throne with his Father, as the double portion due to a firstborn son.
At the end of forty days, the mother had to bring an offering to the temple. Until then, she could not enter the temple sactuary without defiling it. Who was the mother in Jesus resurrection? What offering did she bring, and where did she bring it? To the earthly temple? I think not; to the tabernacle in heaven, wherein the Father resides?
To answer these questions, look deeper. What was the forfeit if the mother did not bring an offering to the temple? The male son himself was the forfeit, becoming the property of the Temple. And what do we see? Yeshua rose to his Father to sit at his right hand, and to stand before his mercy seat. The book of Revelation paints the heavenly temple as grander and greater than the earthly temple, but on similar lines. Yeshua rose to heaven to offer himself, being without a mother to make an offering for his redemption.
Why was the vail in the Temple rent? The vail covered the presence of God, separating God from everyone, the ultimate holiness. The ripping of the vail was the grief of a Father; God ripped his garment in agony when Yeshua died on the tree.