Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. 24 Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. 25 “I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. 26 On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. 27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
Jesus continues to prepare His disciples for the time after His death, Resurrection, and return to the Father. He tells them, “whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you” (v. 23b). To ask in Jesus’ name means to pray as disciples who belong to Him, trust Him, and desire what is in harmony with His will. Earlier in this same discourse, Jesus connects answered prayer with remaining in Him, keeping His word, and bearing fruit (Jn 15:7, 10, 16). Prayer in His name is therefore prayer offered in union with Him.
Jesus says, “Until now you have not asked anything in my name” (v. 24). During His earthly ministry, the disciples spoke directly with Him, questioned Him, and depended on His visible presence. After His Resurrection and return to the Father, they will pray to the Father in a new way, through their communion with the risen Lord. Their sorrow over His departure will be changed by His Resurrection, and their joy will be made complete as they live in the new relationship His return to the Father opens for them with the Father (v. 24; Jn 20:20).
Jesus then says, “I have told you this in figures of speech” (v. 25). Throughout these chapters, He has used images such as the vine and the branches, the woman in labor, and other forms of figurative speech to prepare the disciples for what they could not yet fully understand (Jn 15:1-6; 16:21). The “hour” points to the time of His Passion, death, Resurrection, and glorification. After these events, the meaning of His words will become clearer. They will understand more deeply who He is, why He came, and how the Father’s love is revealed through Him.
When Jesus says that the time is coming when He will “tell you clearly about the Father” (v. 25), He is pointing to the clearer understanding the disciples will receive after His Passion, Resurrection, and return to the Father. The Father is made known through the Son. Jesus has come from the Father, entered the world, and now returns to the Father (v. 28). This movement gives the passage its shape. The Son’s coming shows that the Father sent Him in love. The Son’s return shows that His mission in the world is reaching its fulfillment. Through Jesus, the disciples come to know the Father as the One who loves them and receives their prayer.
This is why Jesus can say, “On that day you will ask in my name” (v. 26). The disciples will be able to approach the Father with confidence because they are united to the Son. Jesus adds, “I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you” (v. 26). His words highlight the Father’s own love for them. The disciples are being brought into a real relationship with the Father through faith in the Son. Their prayer, made directly to the Father in Jesus’ name, is received because they belong to Christ and believe that He came from God.
The heart of the passage is Jesus’ assurance: “For the Father himself loves you” (v. 27). The Father’s love is direct and personal. The disciples have loved Jesus and have come to believe that He came from God. Their faith is still growing, and they will soon be shaken by the events of the Passion. Yet Jesus teaches them that the Father’s love is already at work in them. Faith in the Son brings them into communion with the Father who sent Him.
Jesus ends by gathering His whole mission into one sentence: “I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father” (v. 28). This is the path of the Son: from the Father, into the world, and back to the Father. His return is the completion of the saving work for which He came. Through Him, the disciples learn to pray, to trust the Father’s love, and to live with the joy that comes from belonging to Christ.
Direct prayer to the Father belongs within the life of the Church Jesus established. The disciples do not pray as isolated believers, but as those gathered by Christ, taught by His word, and later sent as His witnesses. After His Resurrection, Jesus gives the apostles the Holy Spirit and sends them to continue His mission (Jn 20:21-23). Christian prayer is therefore personal, but it is also ecclesial: it is prayer offered to the Father through Christ, within the communion of the Church He founded.
Father, strengthen our faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ. Teach us to pray in His name with trust, obedience, and love. Help us to believe more deeply that You love us and that Your Son has opened the way to You. Amen.
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Sources and References
- New American Bible, Revised Edition. John 16:23b-28 and note on John 16:25.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. Page 193.
- José María Casciaro, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008. Page 428.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. Pages 977-978, pars. 197-198.
- Aguilar Chiu, José Enrique, et al., eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018. Page 1164.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition, with a Foreword by Pope Francis. London: T&T Clark, 2022. Pages 1431-1432.
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