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| St. Stephen, deacon and martyr whose story is told in the first reading. |
But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into
heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of
God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But
they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against
him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and
began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young
man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen,
he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then
he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin
against them.” When he had said this, he died.
1
Peter 2:2-10
Like newborn infants, long for the pure,
spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—
3 if
indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by
mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like
living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a
holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for
those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”
has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and
“A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.”
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because
they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty
acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
John 14:1-14
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in
God, believe also in me. 2 In
my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I
have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I
am, there you may be also. 4 And
you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him,
“Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am
the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me. 7 If
you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and
have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be
satisfied.” 9 Jesus
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’? 10 Do
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. 11 Believe
me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then
believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very 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. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the
Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will
do it.
If in my name you ask
me for anything, I will do it.
·
We often end our prayers
with “In Jesus’ name, we pray”, relying on what Jesus said about praying in his
name. He said If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
Could it be just that simple?
·
Yes, it can… and no, it
isn’t that simple.
·
As a child, I prayed for
snow on my birthday. A fairly harmless request, but also one that did not mean
much. I was praying for my own will to be done regarding the weather. (It
rarely happened, by the way.)
·
To pray in Jesus’ name
means to pray with his authority, according to his relationship with the
Father. Now as a not-so-good example, I have a friend who is an officer in the
Air Force. As he put it, he “holds the Queen’s Commission”, which means he
derives his authority from Her Majesty through the government of Canada. His
authority as an officer is not from himself; in effect, he gives his orders “in
the name of the Queen.”
·
I wondered how this
might work for our prayers “in the name of Jesus.” We don’t have Jesus’ power
to heal or to change the minds and hearts of those we talk to. Because of grace
and our relationship with Jesus, we have the ear of the Father and that still
doesn’t guarantee the bicycle we prayed for when we were nine.
·
To pray in the name of
Jesus really means we must be of the mind of Jesus when we do pray. For us to
pray that way means that asking is not a function of what we desire as much as
it is placing ourselves in the mind of Christ and seeing things as Christ sees
them. I
will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the
Son.
·
If this is the case,
what we pray for and pray about will most likely change. If it is for the glory
of God and not for selfish gain, then what Jesus said will be. We might also
pray for the spirit of wisdom in order to know what we should ask.
·
There is very little
that we cannot bring before God in prayer. If we are God’s beloved children as the
Scripture tells us, health, peace of heart, repentance, pains and sorrows,
needs for problems and fears are all things to pray about and pray for. And our
prayer is not limited to that. It is in the name of Jesus that our lives are
grounded. So the apostle Paul could write Whatever you do, in word or deed, do
everything in the name of the Lord Jesus… (Colossians 3:17a NRSV) and So, whether you eat or drink, or
whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians
10:31 NRSV)
·
Prayer is not a vending
machine where you put in your money and you get what you pay for. Prayer grows
from the relationship we have with God in Jesus Christ. That relationship will
involve rebirth, renewal, and conversion of our minds and hearts to the mind of
Christ, as Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians: Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ
Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited, but emptied him-self, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness. (Philippians 2:5ff)
·
When we are filled with
God’s grace and animated by it, we will pray in the name of Jesus, for the mind
of Jesus will come with his grace. We’ll make mistakes and missteps, sure, and
we’ll stumble. And that’s were Resurrection comes in.
·
The author of the first
letter of Peter tell us who we continue to be in God’s grace, despite any
stumbling: like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual
house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ. This indeed is what we are called to
and what we will come to in God’s grace and the mind of Christ.
If in my name you ask
me for anything, I will do it.
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