In my uneducated opinion, I think Jesus was simply saying to Mary Magdalene, “Enough already. Get up. You have work to do. Go and tell the other disciples…”
Concerning this verse, Stephen K. Ray’s book, St. John’s Gospel: A Bible Study Guide and Commentary, says:
Commentators have struggled to understand the injunction against Mary clinging to Jesus. “Mary had evidently thrown herself at Jesus’ feet and was attempting to demonstrate her love by throwing her arms about his knees. Jesus must tell her, however, that the old relationships are no more, and he must not be hindered in completing the drama of his glorification. Now he must return to the Father, thus accomplishing the destiny that has been the goal of his entire earthly life.” (Raymond Brown, Joseph Fitzmyer, and Roland Murphy, eds., The Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968, 2:462.)
“It is suggested that the Greek is really a mistranslation of an Aramaic original. Jesus of course would speak in Aramaic, and not in Greek; and what John gives us is a translation into Greek of what Jesus said. It is suggested that what Jesus really said was: ‘Hold me not; but before I ascend to my Father go to my brethren and say to them…’ It would be as if Jesus said: ‘Do not spend so long in worshipping me in the joy of your new discovery. Go and tell the good news to the rest of the disciples.’ It may well be that here we have the explanation. The Greek imperative is a present imperative, and strictly speaking ought to mean: ‘Stop touching me.’ It may be that Jesus was saying to Mary: ‘Don’t go on clutching me selfishly to yourself. In a short time I am going back to my Father. I want to meet my disciples as often as possible before then. Go and tell them the good news that none of the time that we and they should have together may be wasted.’ That would make excellent sense, and that in fact is what Mary did.” (William Barclay, The Gospel of John. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1975, 2:271)
