23 And on that day you will put no questions to me. Truly I say to you, Whatever request you make to the Father, he will give it to you in my name. 24 Up to now you have made no request in my name: do so, and it will be answered, so that your hearts may be full of joy.
25 All this I have said to you in veiled language: but the time is coming when I will no longer say things in veiled language but will give you knowledge of the Father clearly. 26 In that day you will make requests in my name: and I do not say that I will make prayer to the Father for you, 27 For the Father himself gives his love to you, because you have given your love to me and have had faith that I came from God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on John 16:23-27
Commentary on John 16:23-27
(Read John 16:23-27)
Asking of the Father shows a sense of spiritual wants, and a desire of spiritual blessings, with conviction that they are to be had from God only. Asking in Christ's name, is acknowledging our unworthiness to receive any favours from God, and shows full dependence upon Christ as the Lord our Righteousness. Our Lord had hitherto spoken in short and weighty sentences, or in parables, the import of which the disciples did not fully understand, but after his resurrection he intended plainly to teach them such things as related to the Father and the way to him, through his intercession. And the frequency with which our Lord enforces offering up petitions in his name, shows that the great end of the mediation of Christ is to impress us with a deep sense of our sinfulness, and of the merit and power of his death, whereby we have access to God. And let us ever remember, that to address the Father in the name of Christ, or to address the Son as God dwelling in human nature, and reconciling the world to himself, are the same, as the Father and Son are one.