From John 14:
13I (Jesus) 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.
Here are a few verses that have some difficulty in their application. "Whatever" and "anything" are pretty clear and concise words, aren't they? Finally this is the key to health, happiness and good fortune! Do you need a job? Remember this verse and pray in Jesus' name! Need the blood tests to show you're healthy as a horse? Need help with will power? Need to let go of something that's eating you? John 14:13-14. Maybe you can even skip the prayer itself since the Holy Spirit knows what's on your mind, and just repeat that biblical citation like a mantra or a desperate plea: "John fourteen thirteen fourteen! John fourteen thirteen fourteen! John fourteen thirteen fourteen!!!" When your prayers aren't going your way, the stage is set for you to have a terrible crisis of faith.
Stop. I'm convinced there is something deeper, much deeper, happening in this teaching. Jesus makes a big deal of his name, of his purpose, and especially of his very close "abiding" relationship with the heavenly father. Jesus name is not a login and password. It's not a lucky horseshoe. His name is not a secret code that elevates your chances above your neighbors.
Jesus (through the writer John) is talking about his name as if it's an expansive thing, as if it's a space where you and I can be at home. Jesus' name, rather than being a universal tool you dig out of your toolbox, is a framework, a mode, a way of thinking. Jesus' name is a new life-giving frame of reference.
I don't have a clear vision of what asking in Jesus' name is all about. But I think it has something to do with making Jesus' purpose, vision, mission, glory more complete. See the hint above that Jesus himself gives about glory.
Ours is a "cruciform" life. It's cross-shaped. Jesus takes us into ill health, sadness, ill fortune, job rejections, and bad news from the doctor, ours and our neighbors', as light into darkness. Being in Jesus' name is being remade in the image of the resurrected Christ. You and I are part of the completion of his glory.
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