ACC ~ John 16 v23

ALL OUR LONGINGS AND QUESTIONS WILL BE SATISFIED

AUGUSTINE: The verb “to ask” used here means not only to entreat but also to question. And the Greek Gospel, of which this is a translation, has a word that may also be understood in both senses, so that by it the ambiguity is not removed. [1] Even if we could remove the ambiguity, it still would not remove every difficulty. For we read that the Lord Christ, after he rose again, was both questioned and petitioned. He was asked by the disciples, on the eve of his ascension into heaven, when he would be manifested and when the kingdom of Israel would come. [2] And even when he was already in heaven, he was petitioned [asked] by Stephen to receive his spirit. [3] And who dares either to think or say that Christ ought not to be asked, sitting as he does in heaven, and yet was asked while he lived here on earth? Or that he ought not to be asked in his state of immortality, although it was our duty to ask him while still in his state of subjection to death? …

For by his going to the Father, they soon would not see him. And for this reason, therefore, his words did not mean that he was about to die and to be withdrawn from their view till his resurrection. But [it meant] that he was about to go to the Father, which he did do after his resurrection when … after forty days he ascended into heaven. [4] He therefore addressed the words “a little while, and you shall no more see me” to those who saw him at the time in bodily form because he was about to go to the Father and was never thereafter to be seen in that mortal state wherein they now beheld him when he was addressing them at that moment. But the words that he added, “And again a little while, and you shall see me,” he gave as a promise to the church universal, just as he gave another promise, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.” [5] The Lord is not slow concerning his promises. And so, in a little while, we shall see him, but we will have no further requests to make, no questions to put forward. For nothing shall remain to be desired, nothing will lie hidden that needs to be inquired about. This little while appears long to us, because it is still going on. But when it is over, we shall then feel what a little while it was. So let us not make our joy then be like that of the world. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 101.4, 6. [6]

[1] Gk erōtēsete.

[2] Acts 1:6.

[3] Acts 7:59.

[4] Acts 1:3, 9.

[5] Mt 28:20.

[6] NPNF 1 7:388-89**

ASK THE FATHER THROUGH CHRIST

ORIGEN: And so, when the saints give thanks to God in their prayers, they acknowledge through Christ Jesus the favors he has done. And if it is true that one who is scrupulous about prayer ought not to pray to someone else who prays but rather to the Father whom our Lord Jesus taught us to address in prayers, it is especially true that no prayer should be addressed to the Father without him, who clearly points this out himself when he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Up till now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Now he did not say “ask me” or simply “ask the Father.” On the contrary, he said, “If you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name.” For until Jesus taught this, no one asked the Father in the name of the Son. And what Jesus said was true, “Up till now you have asked nothing in my name.” And also true was his saying, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” ON PRAYER 15.2. [1]

[1] OSW 113*; GCS 3(2):334-35.

ASK, AND HE WILL GIVE

CYPRIAN: Let Christ, who dwells within our heart, also dwell in our voice. And since we have him as an advocate with the Father for our sins, let us, when as sinners we petition on behalf of our sins, put forward the words of our advocate. For since he says that “whatever we shall ask of the Father in his name, he will give us,” how much more effectually shall we obtain what we ask in Christ’s name, if we ask for it in his own prayer! THE LORD’S PRAYER 3. [1]

[1] ANF 5:448**.

THE POWER OF THE NAME

CHRYSOSTOM: He shows the power of his name when—even if it is neither seen nor called on but only named—he even gains our approval with the Father. But when has this taken place? When they said, “Lord, behold their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with boldness and work miracles in your name. And the place was shaken where they were.” [1] HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 79.1. [2]

[1] A reference to Pentecost, see Acts 4:29-31.

[2] NPNF 1 14:292**.

ASK FOR WHAT PERTAINS TO SALVATION

BEDE: It can disturb hearers with weak [faith] that, at the beginning of this reading from the Gospel, the Savior promises his disciples, “If you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.” Not only do people like us not receive many things we seek to ask of the Father in Christ’s name, but even the apostle Paul himself asked the Lord three times that the angel of Satan with which he was tormented might depart from him, and he was not able to obtain what he asked. [1] But the perplexity caused by this question has already been resolved by the old explanation of the Fathers. [2] They understood truthfully that those people alone ask in the name of the Savior who ask for those things that pertain to eternal salvation. They understood, therefore, that the apostle did not ask in the Savior’s name [when he asked] to be relieved of the temptation that he had received as a protection for his humility. If he had been relieved of it, he could not have been saved. … Whenever we are not listened to when we ask, it happens either because we are asking [for something] contrary to what would aid our salvation, and for this reason the grace of his kindness is denied us by our merciful Father because we are unsuitably asking … or [it happens because] we are asking for things that are indeed useful for and connected with true salvation, but we ourselves by our evil lives divert away from us the voice of the just Judge, falling into what was said by Solomon, “The person who turns away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer will be an abomination.” [3] Or [it happens because] when we pray for certain sinners, that they may recover their senses and return to themselves, that although we are asking [for something] pertaining to salvation, and we deserve to be heard for our own merit, yet their obstinacy stands in the way of our obtaining what we ask. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.12. [4]

[1] 2 Cor 12:8.

[2] See Augustine Tractate 73.2-4.

[3] Prov 28:9.

[4] CS 111:108-9*.