In Jesus’ Name
John 14:1-14[1]
Prayer is a puzzle to most of us, I think. I’m not sure many of us even know why it is
that we pray. In this self-oriented
culture of ours, some people pray as a form of sanctified
wish-fulfillment. They think they can
put a prayer coin in the slot machine and have all their dreams come true—if
they pray the right way. Then there are others who reject prayer altogether as
a remnant from the days when people thought God was directly responsible for
things like the weather. They see it as
just a mind game we’re playing with ourselves.
I think the solution to the problem of prayer lies somewhere in the middle
between self-interest and cynicism.
Nowhere does the problem of prayer appear so acutely as in the promises
that if we pray with enough faith, we will be granted “anything” we want. This
is especially the case with praying “in Jesus’ name.” I think for most of us,
“in Jesus’ name” has become just a way to end a prayer. But stories of the
Apostles doing amazing things “in Jesus’ name” make us at least wonder if
there’s something more to it than that. And the promises in John’s Gospel that
if we ask anything “in Jesus’ name” it will be granted to us create the
impression that praying “in Jesus’ name” is some kind of method for
guaranteeing we’ll get the outcome we want. From that point of view, it sounds
more like magic than prayer to me.
I think if we look at this promise in the light of its context, which is
always a good idea when approaching the Bible, we’ll find a very different
meaning to praying “in Jesus’ name.” Our lesson for today contains a dialogue
between Jesus and his disciples concerning whether or not they truly believed
that he was who he claimed to be and what he was doing was the Father’s will.
Jesus provoked this discussion by saying, “If you know me, you will know my
Father also” (John 14:7). That was a difficult thing for any Jewish person to
comprehend in that day. I’m not sure it’s gotten any easier for us. I think
Jesus recognized how difficult a challenge that is for faith, and he called his
disciples to “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me” on
the basis of the works he had done (John 14:11).
It is this dialogue that leads up to the promise that the Father will
grant them anything they ask in Jesus’ name. And yet, it’s important to note
that the point of this passage is that if Jesus’ disciples believe in him they
“will also do the works that I do, and in fact, will do greater works than
these” (John 14:12). I’m not sure which one poses a greater challenge for
faith: really believing that Jesus is one with the Father, or really believing
that that our faith will enable us to do “greater works” than he did! I think
it’s challenging enough to hope that we could do the works that Jesus did. But
to do “greater works”? I’m not sure I have that much faith.
It’s in that context that Jesus promised “I will do whatever you ask in
my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). I think
Jesus probably knew that his disciples were having a hard enough time believing
all that he had done. Most of his work with them involved helping them
understand what he was doing, because it was not at all what they had expected.
In that light, I would think he also knew that they felt overwhelmed by the
statement that they would do “greater things” than Jesus had done.
I think that is the basis for Jesus’ promise, “If in my name you ask me
for anything, I will do it” (John 14:14). He was reassuring them that they
could ask for the insight, the faith, the courage, and the strength to do the
“greater things” that he promised them they would do. Think of it: how else
could “the Father be glorified in the Son” than for Jesus to empower his
disciples to continue to do the work he had begun. In a very real sense, the
story of disciples’ ministry in the book of Acts and the rest of the New
Testament shows us how they did just that. What they did “in Jesus’ name” was
to continue his work of bringing the peace and justice and freedom of God’s
kingdom to those who needed it most.
Unfortunately, many believers have separated this verse from its context
and turned it into a means for getting whatever they want. People who call
themselves “Christian” pray for all kinds of things in Jesus’ name: from
healing, to help making ends meet, to the perfect mate, to a house on an
acreage, even to things like a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. That’s what happens
when you pick and choose verses from the Bible. Some of this is legitimate,
especially when it involves meeting basic life needs. But there’s a big
difference between what we need and what we want.
The lesson the Gospel has for us this week is that praying in Jesus’
name primarily involves praying for his work to be fulfilled through us. I want
to repeat what I said last week: in all of this, I don’t think the lesson is
that we shouldn’t pray for our needs or even at times our desires. What is more
natural than to turn to our creator and redeemer to express the deepest desires
of our hearts? But Jesus’ approach to
prayer suggests that the desires of our hearts ought to be shaped not by the
values of our culture, or our own selfish interests, but by the principles of
the kingdom—compassion, peace, justice, freedom, and new life. I think when our prayers “in Jesus’ name” are
shaped in this way, we will be praying for God’s kingdom to come and His will
to be done. When we do that, we can pray with the confidence that God will hear
and answer in a way that best promotes his purposes in our world. When we do
that, then we’re praying in Jesus’ name.
[1]
©2017 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 5/14/2017 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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