Until now you have not asked anything in my name;
ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
Jesus was commending to his disciples a new way of praying. It was not like in previous stages of the covenant where, to be sure, people prayed to the Father, but where the truly important matters were handled through chosen mediators. There were different degrees of closeness to God that were possible based on one's status, with the high priest having the highest clearance to access the presence of God. Jesus was not suggesting that his disciples forego the direct route and rely on him to make their requests instead of them. It was not so much "that I will ask the Father for you" as that "you will ask in my name". It was as though the disciples were given permission to use the access which Jesus himself had to the Father in order to appear before him and make their petitions.
For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me
and have come to believe that I came from God.
By faith and love the disciples of Jesus had become so united with him that the Father recognized Jesus in them. It wasn't so much that they were going straight to the Father and leaving Jesus behind, as if in answer to Philip asking, "Lord, show us the Father" (see John 14:7), Jesus pointed him out and stepped aside. No, it was precisely in their union with Jesus himself that they had access to the Father. Jesus revealed him because the more they were united to Jesus the more they experienced his own relationship of mutual love with the Father. This was indeed the only way to have such access. When Jesus said, "I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you" he meant to imply, not that he wouldn't be involved, but rather that the disciples themselves would be involved, much more than they imagined. It was not Jesus on their behalf alone. Nor was it them without further need of Jesus. It was the union of both before the throne of the Father that would be efficacious in prayer.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.
We tend to interpret "in my name" to be a caveat that means that prayer doesn't actually relate to things that we desire or that are relevant to us. It seems to mean we have to impose on our wills that of another if prayer is to yield results. And we tend to assume that prayer isn't really that meaningful if it can't get us what we want. And yet, if it does not result in the things we want, or even necessarily in those things that we think are necessary for others or ourselves, it does fulfill us in a different way. It does not necessarily immediate transform the circumstances of our lives or the world. But it is meant to tend to ever increasing joy.
Until now you have not asked anything in my name;
ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
True joy is found in being united to Jesus and preferring the Father's will to anything else. When we, together with Jesus, ask that his will and not ours be done, and when we mean it, we are never disappointed. And if we trust the Father with trust like Jesus has in him we are not cynical about what he wills or even how he wills it to happen. This means that no matter how things seem in the world we can be routed in peace and in joy. But this requires an active posture of not just tolerating God's will, but desiring it, as Jesus does. He wants to share his joy with us, and does so in the only way he knows how, by bringing us with him to the Father.
For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me
and have come to believe that I came from God.
If we want to know the Father we need to open ourselves to Jesus revealing him. We no longer live in the ages of where he speaks in figures, where we might imagine that we have to solve the mystery ourselves. Rather, this is the age when the Spirit himself speaks within our hearts.
The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures
but I will tell you clearly about the Father.
We ought not avoid the Father as though he is too distant or unapproachable, much less because of suspicion on our part. We should ask the Spirit of Jesus to help us to know the Father as Jesus knows him, so clearly that asking him for what we need in the name of Jesus feels real to us, rather than like a mere ritual or pretend. When this happens his promise of joy will be realized in us. It is not only not wrong to seek that joy, but it is meant to be a guiding star for our lives.
Matt Maher - Run To The Father
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