On that day you will ask in my name
At 18,23-28; Ps 46; Jn 16,23b-28
1 JUNE
The first prayer raised to God in the name of the faith of somebody else is that of Abraham’s servant. It is elevated to God in obedience and so that obedience reaches its end. Prayer, obedience and end must be one. One cannot pray in the name of Christ, without obedience to Christ, without reaching the end of Christ. Eliezer’s purpose was that of finding a bride for his master’s son. But our goal is also that of finding a bride to Christ Jesus, but also becoming a true bride of Christ ourselves. If prayer, obedience and end are not one, prayer is vain.
Abraham had now reached a ripe old age, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. Abraham said to the senior servant of his household, who had charge of all his possessions: “Put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not procure a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live, but that you will go to my own land and to my kindred to get a wife for my son Isaac.” The servant asked him: “What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I then take your son back to the land from which you migrated?” “Never take my son back there for any reason,” Abraham told him. “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my kin, and who confirmed by oath the promise he then made to me, ‘I will give this land to your descendants’ – he will send his messenger before you, and you will obtain a wife for my son there. If the woman is unwilling to follow you, you will be released from this oath. But never take my son back there!” So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him in this undertaking.
The servant then took ten of his master’s camels, and bearing all kinds of gifts from his master, he made his way to the city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim. Near evening, at the time when women go out to draw water, he made the camels kneel by the well outside the city. Then he prayed: “Lord, God of my master Abraham, let it turn out favourably for me today and thus deal graciously with my master Abraham. While I stand here at the spring and the daughters of the townsmen are coming out to draw water, if I say to a girl, ‘Please lower your jug, that I may drink,’ and she answers, ‘Take a drink, and let me give water to your camels, too,’ let her be the one whom you have decided upon for your servant Isaac. In this way I shall know that you have dealt graciously with my master” (Gen 24,1-16).
If only you would put up with a little foolishness from me! Please put up with me. For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere (and pure) commitment to Christ (2Cor 11,1-3).
The Christian must not only ask the Father in the name of Christ to be able to bring the whole world to Christ, but also that Jesus is believed in his truth as Redeemer, Saviour and only Mediator between God and every man. Then, here is the end of prayer in the name of Jesus: making the name of Lord Jesus credible in the world.
On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. “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. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world.
The end of prayer must never be forgotten by the disciple of Jesus. He must work, say and think everything so that through his life the greatest glory is given to Christ. What is the glory of Christ? His truth. The Christian works so that the truth of Christ the Lord is made by every man his truth. Praying in the name of Christ and being granted his prayer, he will testify to the whole world that Jesus is true in all his Word. Whoever wants can be converted to him to have eternal life.
Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that prayer, obedience and end are one.