was in the presence of his disciples, in his visible flesh, in his bodily bulk that
310 SAINT A UGUSTINE - SERMONS
There was, in a word, that woman who was suffering from an issue of blood; she approached him with faith, and touched his garment with her hand, his divine greatness with her faith. And notice what touching really is; the Lord was then being jostled by the crowds, being touched by just one woman. You see, he said
Who touched me ? The disciples were astonished, because so many people were jostling him on all sides, and they answered, The crowds are jostling you, and you say, Who touched me? And he said, Someone touched me (Lk 8:43-48).
Which means, if the crowds are jostling you, they aren't touching you? How did she touch you, apart from the fact that she believed?
"Stop touching me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father" means
"Why look for my flesh, when you cannot yet grasp my divinity?"
2. And right now, my dear brothers and sisters, Jesus is in heaven. When he was in the presence of his disciples, in his visible flesh, in his bodily bulk that could be handled and touched, he was in fact both seen and touched; but now, when he is seated at the Father's right hand, which of us is able to touch him? And yet woe to us, unless we do touch him by faith. We all touch him, all of us who believe. Certainly he's in heaven, certainly he's far away, certainly it's impossible to estimate what immensities of space separate him from us. Believe, and you touch him. What am I saying, you touch him? Because you believe, you have right with you the one about whom you believe it.
So if believing is touching, or rather if touching is believing, what's the meaning of Stop touching me; for I have not yet ascended to my Father (Jn 20:17)? What does this mean? "Why are you looking for my flesh, when you don't yet understand my divinity?" Do you want to know in what way this woman wanted to touch him? She was looking for him as if he were dead, not believing that he was to rise again; They have taken my Lord from the tomb, and she mourns for him as for a mere man. Oh, what touching that is! So because he could see that she was entirely preoccupied with the form of a servant, knew that she had no idea of the form of God in which he is equal to the Father,4 and neither believed nor understood it, he puts off her touching him in order to perfect her touching him. Stop touching me, he said;for I have not yet ascended to my Father. You're touching me before I ascend to the Father, and you believe in me only as a man; what use to you is what you believe? So let me ascend to the Father. I'm ascending for you to where I never left, if you believe I am equal to the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ, after all, did not descend from the Father in such a way as to leave the Father behind; because on the other hand his ascending from us does not mean he withdrew from us. As he was about to ascend, you see, and take his seat at the right hand of the Father such a long, long way away, he said to the disciples, Behold, I am with you right up to the completion of the age (Mt 28:20).