The Switch…

To Joy (part 7) 

In John 16:24, Jesus told his disciples, “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.” That’s because they didn’t need to; he was there in person with them, so they could simply go up to him and ask him anything they wanted and he would answer. 

And how wonderful would that be? Jesus on hand, in person, any time you needed something sorted out in your mind. But to Jesus something even better would be opened up to his disciples after he was no longer with them in person. There was a switch coming that would increase their joy even more.

The switch was in verse 23, when Jesus told them, “my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” And if they cottoned on to what Jesus meant by that the doors would swing open to verse 24: “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

It was all about joy. That’s what Jesus wanted his disciples focused on, not on the grief of him leaving them, but on the joy of discovering why he’d left them, which was to fling open the doors to what was going on in the God world. And by using a simple password they could enter that world any time and experience it. So this was quite a switch from the joy of him being with them in their world, to the joy of them being with him in his world. 

The password to that world was “in my name.” So they could knock on the door of the God world any time and say, “I come in Jesus’ name,” and in they could go. And so can we. But for what purpose? Well, to soak up his world, have it fill us so we bring it to our world – like chipmunks finding a food source and filling up their pouches to take as much as they can back to their den.

Because what Jesus is and taught is now our food source. It’s his joy, his love, his teaching that he’s given us access to that we can now bring to our world. All we need do is ask for those things in his name, in recognition that he is the source of them, and both he and the Father go to work through the Holy Spirit in and with us to make them happen, so people get to see God’s world in this world through us. It’s why we’re Jesus’ disciples. This is now our life’s work and joy, just as it was his…(continues Wednesday)