In the name of Jesus!

John 16:23-28

“When that day comes, you will not ask me for anything. I am telling you the truth: the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your happiness may be complete.

“I have used figures of speech to tell you these things. But the time will come when I will not use figures of speech, but will speak to you plainly about the Father. When that day comes, you will ask him in my name; and I do not say that I will ask him on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you. He loves you because you love me and have believed that I came from God. I did come from the Father, and I came into the world; and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

Food for thought!

Today, Jesus says something that deserves to be our today's food for thought. He said, "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your happiness may be complete." In order to understand this weight of this statement, let us look at what is in a person's name.

First and foremost, we know that our names re-present us; our names make us present. When someone calls our names, they turn us from absence to presence; our names turn us present. When we call someone's name, we call all that that person is. Our names turn us present. You are your name; your name is you.

The same with Jesus. His name turn him present. When we call on the name of Jesus, we call on the Son of God; when we call on the name of Jesus we call on his power, his personality, his presence. It is like in marriage. When the woman "drops" her name and adopts the name of the husband, the two signify that they have become one. When the wife uses her husband's name, she begins to tell the world that she and her husband are one and the same person.

The same with Jesus. He is one with us as a bride is one with the bridegroom. This is what the letter to the Ephesians tells us in other words:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” (Ephesians 5:25-31)

By telling us to use his name, Jesus is telling us in other words that when we are one with him, we can dare to ask the Father anything; Jesus is saying that "You  are mine; I am yours." That we are so intimately united more than husband and wife are. These two are just an image of his union with each one of us. We are one WITH Christ; we are one IN Christ.

Our spouse, Jesus, is saying: Use my name to pray to the Father; He will not refuse you anything in my name; don't be afraid; don't fight alone; don't suffer alone; don't die alone. Unit now you have not used my name! You have not yet used my name for your benefit. You are still using your name, your poor and weak name. Use Jesus' powerful name!

"God raised him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any other name. And so, in honor of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees." (Phil 2:9-10).

"Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one of Jesus." (Acts 4:12)