5th Sunday of Lent (March 22). Ask anything in my name

Prepare to Listen.  You are the light of the world.  (Matt 5:14)
 
Prayerfully Read John 14:8-14
8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves.  12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
 
Prayerfully Wonder
“If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”  Some read this promise and think it gives them license to ask for stuff for themselves—a new car, more money, etc.  Others struggle to believe Jesus meant it and thus don’t ask.  To understand, we must pay attention to context.
 
Jesus said this in response to Philip’s request: “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  Jesus seems surprised, even disappointed in Philip.  Despite the close relationship, Philip still didn’t know Jesus, didn’t know his oneness with the Father, failed to grasp that his words and works are the Father’s words and works.
 
Those who believe, he taught, “will also do the works that I do,” and even greater ones.  If his words and works mirrored the Father to the world, so too should ours.  This is the anything we’re to ask for, what we need to do the works that make God known to the world.  This is why we ask in his name.  It’s about his power and glory, not our own.  The “greater works,” aren’t more spectacular in kind, but more numerous, done by more Jesus-followers asking in his name.
 
This changes how we understand Jesus’ promise to do anything we ask in his name.  We won’t ask for stuff for ourselves, but for change in the world; we’ll ask that God’s word and God’s works will be done, through us, “on earth as in heaven.”  His promise isn’t license to live me-first lives, but more a command to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world.  We ask for the power to speak words and do works that mirror him to the world.
 
What’s the anything you can ask Jesus today, believing he will do it?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, help us rightly believe your promise to ask anything, and boldly ask for what reflects your image to your world.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Anything you ask in my name.