Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sixth Sunday of Easter (C)

May 25, 2025

Text: John 16:23-33

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            As promised, due to the length of Catechism time, I hope to keep this sermon brief.  And so, I’d like to concentrate on these words: “In that day you will ask nothing of me.  Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.   Until now you have asked nothing in my name.   Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:23-24; ESV).

            “(W)hatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”  On the basis of these words, we have a practice in the Church of concluding most of our collects… the collect is the short prayer in the bulletin that collects the petitions of the congregation into one petition based on the readings from Holy Scripture… we conclude these collects with the words, “through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord,” or some such similar formula.  Likewise, we often append to our prayers at Church, or in our personal prayers, the words, “for Jesus’ sake,” or even more to the point, “in Jesus’ Name.”  It’s a good practice, because it reminds us of this text.

            But what does it mean?  First of all, what it does not mean…  It does not mean that this is some magical formula that, if we remember to say it just right, we’ll get what we want, and if we don’t remember, we shouldn’t expect to receive anything.  We should not reduce this practice to mere superstition.  Nor should we think of these words like dollar bills deposited in a vending machine.  The recitation of these words is not the same thing as remembering to say “please” when you ask somebody for something.  In fact, sometimes we don’t actually say these words at all.  The Lord’s Prayer is given us by Jesus Himself, and so is the most perfect prayer we could pray.  We do pray it in Jesus’ Name, but we don’t conclude with these words.  So, you get the point.  It’s not the words so much as the fact.  Whatever we ask of the Father, whether we say the words or not, we ask only, and always, in the Name of Jesus Christ, His Son.

            And what does it mean to ask, or do, anything, in the name of anybody?  It means to ask in that person’s place.  It means to do a thing with the authority that person has bestowed upon you.  If I cash a check in my wife’s name, it means she has given me the authority to do so by signing it over to me.  We will often send one of our children close at hand to ask, or command, another of our children far away, to do this or that.  They are asking, or commanding, in the name of Dad, with all the authority of Dad behind the commandment or request.  So it is with praying in the Name of Jesus (only in this case, of course, the Son is not commanding His Father).  You are asking in the authority He has bestowed upon you, so that when you ask, He is really the One asking.  And you are asking in His place, which is to say, as the Father’s beloved Son.  Well, you are baptized into Him, after all.  He has given you to be God’s own child, and so He says to you, “When you pray,” then, just like Me, “say: ‘Father’” (Luke 11:12)… Our Father…

            You are asking with Him, with Jesus, the Son.  Or, perhaps better, He is asking with you.  He holds your hand as you come before the Father’s throne.  And you’re asking according to His will, as He reveals it in Holy Scripture.  Well, you have no authority to ask for anything else, anything outside His will.  You can’t ask to sin, for example.  That wouldn’t be asking in Jesus’ Name, because He doesn’t want you to sin.  Just like me cashing a forged check in your name wouldn’t really be cashing it in your name.  This is why, when we know something is God’s will, because Scripture says it, like asking for forgiveness of sins, or eternal life, we don’t say “if it be Your will.”  We already know it is.  But if we’re praying that it doesn’t rain today… or that Safeway has a good sale on ground beef… or that we don’t die today… we do say the words, or at least pray with the understanding, “only if it is Your will.” 

            And this gets to the Promise in our text, a Promise which often confounds us: “whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you”… “Ask, and you will receive”…  That doesn’t mean, “Lord, please give me a million dollars… in Jesus’ Name, amen,” and then I get it.  I can ask that.  And it could happen, if it is God’s will.  But it probably isn’t His will, because it probably wouldn’t be good for me, and God’s will is only and always for our good.  So I want His will to be done, even if, at the time, I don’t really like His will. 

            But here is what He will do.  He will provide for me, all my needs of body and soul, and so much more besides.  And that is really what I’m praying for when I ask for a million dollars.  I pray it better when I use the words of Jesus: “Give us this day our daily bread.”  And that’s also not so selfish, because I pray it for us, and not just for me.  And see, in doing that for me… for us… the Father is really saying “Yes” to my prayer.  It’s just that His “Yes” is infinitely better than my silly, stupid, selfish request.  And I can trust Him on it, because He is my Father, and I am His child.  He will give me what is good.

            And that is really what it means to pray in Jesus’ Name.  To pray as a child of the heavenly Father, trusting that He will do all that is needed, all that is right and good.  For this reason, we should always be motivated to pray.  We should discuss everything with our Father in heaven.  Commend everything to Him.  Ask His help and blessing in everything, knowing that He hears and answers, because that is the Promise.  Every day, everything before you, your concerns, your endeavors, everyone on your mind and heart… discuss it with Him.  Every evening, all that has happened, your successes, your failures, your sins, your ongoing concerns… bring it all before Him.  In Jesus’ Name, which is to say, covered with Christ.  Clothed with Christ.  Immersed in Christ, in the blood that cleanses you from all sin, in His death, in His life.  You in Christ.  Christ in you.  And then relax.  The Father will do it.  That is the Promise.  You will receive what you need, when you need it, as He knows best.  And your joy will be full.

            Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.