Lecture 6 — Ask in Christ’s name

^16:23^ And in that day you will not ask me anything. Amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it you. [n. 2136]

^16:24^ Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive; that your joy may be full. [n. 2144]

2135. Above, our Lord enlarged on two things which would comfort his apostles, the promise of the Paraclete and his own return (C. 16, L. 2, 5). Here he mentions a third reason by which he comforts them, promising them access to the Father.

First, he promises them an intimate relationship with the Father;

second, he gives a reason for this intimacy: these things I have spoken to you in proverbs (John 16:25).

He does two things about the first:

he gives them that security that comes from confidence;

second, he encourages them to act on their confidence: hitherto you have not asked anything in my name.

He does two things with the first:

first, he rejects a need for an intercessor;

second, he promises them an opportunity to ask: amen, amen I say to you: if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you.

2136. He says, in that day you will not ask me anything. According to Augustine, where we have ask, the Greeks have a word which means two things: to ask for something, or to pose a question. (Tractates on the Gospel of John 101.4.) Consequently, in that day you will not ask me anything can mean two things: you will not ask me for anything, or you will not question me about anything.

In that day. What that day is can be seen from what he said before, I will see you again (John 16:22). This can be understood to be the day of his resurrection, or the day when we have the vision of his glory.

2137. Chrysostom understands this passage the first way. (Commentary on Saint John 79.1.) Thus, in that day, when I arise from the dead, you will not ask me anything, that is, you will not say such things as show us the Father (John 14:8).

Augustine objects to this interpretation because after the resurrection the disciples did say: Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6); and Peter poses the question: Lord, what will this man do? (John 21:21).

Yet one can uphold Chrysostom’s explanation by saying that our Lord calls that day not only the day of his resurrection, but also that day the disciples were to be taught by the Holy Spirit: when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will teach you all truth (John 16:13). And so by speaking in a vague manner of that time, our Lord also includes the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is like saying: in that day, once the Holy Spirit has been given, you will not ask me anything, because you will know all things by the Holy Spirit: his anointing teaches you about everything (1 John 2:27). Again, according to Chrysostom, in that day, when the Holy Spirit comes, you will not ask me anything, that is, you will have no need to ask me.

2138. But after the resurrection did not the apostles pray to Christ for things? It seems so, for the Apostle says: three times I besought the Lord, that is, Christ (2 Cor 12:8).

I answer that there are two natures in Christ: his human nature, by which he is the mediator between God and us (1 Tim 2:5), and his divine nature, by which he is one God with the Father. Christ, considered as having a human nature, was not a mediator who never united us to God, like some mediators who never unite extremes. So, Christ joins us to the Father. Now to join God the Farther and to join Christ as God are the same. Thus he says: it is not necessary for you to use my mediation as man. Thus, in that day you will not ask me anything as mediator, because you will have access to God by yourselves, but you will ask me as God. Although Christ intercedes for us, as the Apostle says (Rom 8:34), still the Church does not ask him as an intercessor. Thus we do not say, Christ, pray for us; but we do ask him as God, adhering to him as God by faith and love.

2139. Augustine explains this passage as referring to the day of the vision of glory in this way: (Tractates on the Gospel of John 102.2.) in that day, when I see you in glory, you will not ask me anything, that is, you will not ask me for anything because there will be nothing left to desire, since all goods will be ours in superabundance in our homeland: you will fill me with joy by your face (Ps 16:11); and again, I will be satisfied when your glory appears (Ps 17:15). Also, you will ask no questions because you will be filled with the knowledge of God: in your light do we see light (Ps 36:9).

2140. An objection can be raised against both. The saints do pray in our homeland: call now, if there is any who will answer you; and turn to some of the saints (Job 5:1); and in 2 Maccabees we see that a saint prayed for the entire Jewish people (2 Macc 15:12). Nor can one say that the saints pray just for others and not for themselves, for we read: how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth? (Rev 6:10).

Further, the saints ask questions: for they will be equal to the angels (Matt 22:30), and the angels question: who is the King of glory? (Ps 24:8), and, according to Dionysius, it is the angels who ask, who is this that comes from Edom? (Isa 63:1). (The Celestial Hierarchy 7.3.) Therefore, the saints also question.

Two points can be made in answer to this. The time of glory can be considered in two ways: the time of the beginning of glory, and the time of its full completion. The time of the beginning of glory lasts until the day of judgment: for the saints receive glory in their soul, but something still remains to be received, that is, the glory of the body for each one, and the completion of the number of the elect. Consequently, till the day of judgment the saints can both ask for things and question, but not about what pertains to the very essence of beatitude. The time of fully complete glory is after the day of judgment, and after this nothing is left to be asked for, and nothing left to be known. It is about this that he says, in that day, of consummated glory, you will not ask me anything.

The observation about the angels asking questions is true in his way: they do ask about the mysteries of the humanity of Christ and the incarnation, but they do not question about the divinity.

2141. Now he promises them an opportunity to ask. This is related to the above in two ways. According to Chrysostom, this refers to the time of the resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. (Commentary on Saint John 79.1.) It is like saying: it is true that in that day of the resurrection and of the Holy Spirit that you will not ask me; yet you will have my help, because you will ask the Father, to whom you have access through me, in my name.

Augustine explains it the other way. (Tractates on the Gospel of John 102.2.) In that day, of my glory, you will not ask me anything; but in the meantime, during your sorrowful pilgrimage, if you ask the Father anything . . . he will give it to you. So according to this explanation, if you ask the Father anything, does not refer to in that day, but to what precedes that day.

2142. Our Lord lays down seven conditions for good prayer. The first is that spiritual goods should be sought, when he says, if . . . anything. For what is entirely earthly, even though it is something in itself, is nothing when compared to spiritual goods: I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her (Wis 7:8); I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void (Jer 4:23).

But an objection: in Matthew, our Lord teaches us to ask for temporal goods: give us this day our daily bread (Matt 6:11). I answer that a temporal good asked for in relation to a spiritual good is then something.

The second is that it be made with perseverance; as to this he says, if you ask, with perseverance: they ought always to pray and not lose heart (Luke 18:1); pray constantly (1 Thess 5: 17).

Third, we should pray in harmony with others; he says, if you, in the plural, ask: if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven (Matt 18:19). Thus the Gloss says, about the final chapter of Romans, that it is impossible for the prayers of many not to be heard.

Fourth, it should arise from an affection like that of a child for its parents, as he says, the Father. One who asks out of fear does not ask a father, but a master or an enemy: if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? (Matt 7:11)

The fifth condition is that it be made with piety, that is, with humility: he will regard the prayer of the humble and will not despise their petitions (Ps 102:17); with confidence that it will be granted: let him ask in faith, with no doubting (Jas 1:6); and it should be made correctly: you ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly (Jas 4:3). In regard to this he says, in my name, which is the name of the Savior, in which name one asks when asking for things pertaining to salvation, and when asking in that way by which one can attain salvation: there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

The sixth condition is that prayer be made for an appropriate time, so he says, he will give. One should not stop praying if one does not immediately receive; it will be given to us even if it is postponed till a better time, so as to increase our desire: you give them their food in due season (Ps 145:15).

Seventh, one should ask for himself. Thus he says, to you, because sometimes prayers for others are not heard because the demerits of those we ask for stand in the way: do not pray for this people (Jer 7:16); though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people (Jer 15:1).

2143. Now he encourages them to act with the confidence he has given them:

first, he reminds them of what they lacked in the past;

second, he encourages them to advance in the future, ask, and you will receive.

2144. What they lacked in the past was not asking; thus he says, hitherto you have not asked anything in my name.

But this seems to conflict with Luke where it says that Christ gave the twelve power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases (Luke 9:1; Matt 10:1). Now they did these things by praying. Therefore, they did ask something in the name of Christ, especially because the disciples said: Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name (Luke 10:17).

We must say, then, that this can be explained in two ways. First, hitherto you have not asked anything, that is nothing great, in my name. For to ask for cures for the body is a small matter compared to the great things they would accomplish by their prayers; nor had they yet received the Spirit of adoption to make them aspire to spiritual and heavenly things. And if you object that they did ask for something great when they asked before, Lord, show us the Father (John 14:8), I answer that they were not asking the Father, which is what Christ is talking about here, but only Christ as man, trusting that as a mediator he would show them the Father.

Another explanation of if you ask the Father anything in my name is that up to now they had not asked in his name because they did not have a complete knowledge of the name of Christ.

2145. When he says, ask, and you will receive, he is urging them to make progress, that is, they are now to ask: ask, and it will be given you (Matt 7:7). Ask, I say, and you will receive, that is, what you are asking for, that your joy may be full: the seventy returned with joy, saying: Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name (Luke 10:17). The phrase that your joy may be full can be taken to indicate the reason why their prayers are heard. Or, it can point to what they are praying for, so the meaning is: ask, and you will receive, and what you should ask for is that your joy may be full.

2146. Note that the object of joy is a good that is desired. Since desire is a kind of movement toward a good, and joy is rest in that good, a person has joy when he rests in a good, now possessed, to which his desire was moved. And one’s joy is proportionate to the good possessed. There cannot be full joy in a created good because it does not give complete rest to man’s desires and yearnings. Our joy will be full when we possess that good in which all the goods we can desire are found superabundantly. This good is solely God who satisfies our desire with good things (Ps 103:5). Therefore he says, ask this, that your joy may be full, that is, ask to enjoy God and the Trinity, as Augustine says, and no joy is greater: (The Trinity 1.10.20.) you will fill me with joy with your face (Ps 16:11). And why is this? Because all good things came to me along with her, that is, with the contemplation of divine wisdom (Wis 7:11).