Breaking the Word

 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. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father." (Jn 16:23-28)

In this passage the phrase ‘on that day’ appears a few times and the ‘the hour is coming’ is also used. The day and the hour seem to be the time in which Jesus is in union with the Father. Or it could also be the time when Jesus will return to the Father to be united with Him. It is the time of union when everything is made clear and it the time in which everything is complete and everything is granted to the believer.

In the kingdom there is no system of hierarchy. People have direct access to the centre (Father). Jesus’ people have instant, immediate, direct, and valued access into the very presence of the living God. But Jesus says that ‘pray to the father in his name’ and ‘ask in his name’ etc. This does not mean that his people can’t pray to God themselves, on their own account.

On the contrary, it means that those who belong to Jesus are granted the same access to the Father that Jesus himself has. When they pray in Jesus’ name (which means: when they pray, they are conscious of the fact that they belong to Jesus and that what they are doing is for his glory) then the Father welcomes them instantly and grants them whatever they are in need of. The passage is about how close the Father is to the disciples and it is about the love of the FATHER. 

… No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another. (Jn 15:9-17)

 Jesus says that laying down your life for your friends is the highest form of love, and then says ‘you are my friends’. At times ‘laying down life’ is stressed to such an extend that youngsters are asked to go for war to save the country. We should understand that Jesus had said the above statement in a context of love and friendship. It was not said in a context of war and enmity. ‘Laying down life’ in a context of love and friendship is what Jesus is talking about.

 I chose you and appointed you (Like I have called you friends). Initiative is from Jesus and that his action has a purpose. Jesus has not chosen them for the sake of choosing. They have to go do their mission and that their work has to produce effect that will remain.

 The commandment of love is to create friends. That is people who will belong to each other and who will be ready to even lay their life for the other because there are friend. The commandment of love also leads them into a mission and that mission also should have lasting effects.