For he had healed many; so much that they pressed upon him to touch him, as many as had diseases.
Read Chapter 3
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
It is by faith that we touch Jesus. And far better to touch him by faith than to touch or handle him with the hands only and not by faith. It was no great thing to merely touch him manually. Even his oppressors doubtless touched him when they apprehended him, bound him, and crucified him, but by their illmotivated touch they lost precisely what they were laying hold of. O worldwide church! It is by touching him faithfully that your “faith has made you whole.” Sermons, On Easter
