Chrysostem and Aquinas on Unanswered Prayer

Recently I confessed to a friend that I’m in no ways tempted to Atheism.  It seems absurd for the universe to have not have a first principle for its existence and intelligibility. No... if I’m tempted to anything it is “Deism”.  Deism is the belief that God fashioned the universe but doesn’t interfere with the events therein.

The foremost driver of this temptation is our lived experiences.  Most of our lives, from sunrise to sunset, have no obvious indicators of divine intervention.  The world seems so … natural.  And the presence of God in human affairs seems less than obvious.

Nothing drives this home more than the scandal of unanswered prayer.  We’ve all had times when we’ve asked for something which seemed like an unmitigated good… and then nothing happens.  This seems grossly contrary to the promises which Jesus made in several locations:

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” – John 14:12-13

“Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” – Matthew 21:21

Many times it can seem like Jesus wrote a blank check which cannot be cashed.  So today I wanted to share some thoughts from Saint John Chrysostem and Saint Thomas Aquinas on the subject.



John Chrysostem:

It is no easy matter to comprehend what is meant by, or in what sense we are to receive, these words of the Lord, “He that believes in me, the works that I do shall he do also.” But what is to be made of the words, “Whatsoever you shall ask,” when we behold His faithful ones so often asking and not receiving?  Is it, shall we say, for no other reason but that they ask amiss? For the Apostle James made this a ground of reproach when he said, “You ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts.”

How, then, are we to understand “Whatsoever you shall ask, I will do it,” if there are some things which the faithful ask, and which God, even purposely on their behalf, leaves undone? Or ought we to suppose that the words were addressed only to the apostles?  Surely not.  He spoke to those, among whom we also by His grace are included, who by no means receive everything that we ask.  

And if we turn our thoughts even to the most blessed apostles, we find that he who labored more than they all, yet not he, but the grace of God that was with him, besought the Lord thrice that the messenger of Satan might depart from him, and received not what he had asked.

What shall we say, beloved?  Are we to suppose that the promise here made, “Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, I will do it,” was not fulfilled by Him even to the apostles?  And to whom, then, will ever His promise be fulfilled, if therein He has deceived His own apostles?

Wake up, then, believer, and give careful heed to what is stated here, “in my name”.  For in these words He does not say, “whatsoever you shall ask” in any way; but, “in my name.” How then is He called, who promised so great a blessing? Christ Jesus, of course: Christ means King, and Jesus means Savior! 

Therefore, whatsoever we ask that is adverse to the interests of salvation, we do not ask in the name of the Savior.  And yet He is the Savior, not only when He does what we ask, but also when He refuses to do so.  Let us not, then, ask anything that is contrary to our own salvation.  For if He do that, He does it not as the Savior, which is the name He bears to His faithful disciples.

There are some things, indeed, which, although really asked in His name (that is, in harmony with His character as both Savior and Master) He does not at the time we ask them.  And yet He fails not to do them.  For what we ask is delayed, but not denied.  Nevertheless, let us not fail in praying, for in so doing we are as those that sow the seed; and in due season we shall reap. 

-John Chyrsostem, Tractates 72-73 on John’s Gospel.

Aquinas:

How could he say, “Whatever you ask I will do it”, since we see that his faithful ask and do not receive? According to Augustine, we should consider here that he first says, “in my name”, and then adds, “I will do it”. The name of Christ is the name of salvation. Therefore, one who asks for something pertaining to salvation asks in the name of Christ. 

 It does happen that someone asks for something which does not pertain to salvation.  This happens for two reasons: 

First, because one has a corrupt affection: as when one asks for something to which he is attracted, but which if he did have, would be an obstacle to his salvation. One who asks this way is not heard because he asks wrongly: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly". For when someone, because of his corrupt affection, would badly use what he wants to receive, he does not receive it because of our Lord's compassion. The reason being that our Lord does not just look at one's desire, but rather the helpfulness of what is desired. For the good Lord often denies what we ask in order to give us what we should prefer.  

The second reason we may ask for something which does not pertain to our salvation is our ignorance. We sometimes ask for what we think is helpful, but really is not. But God takes care of us, and does not do what we ask. Thus Paul, who labored more than all others, asked our Lord three times to take away a thorn in his flesh, but he did not receive what he asked because it was not useful for him. "We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words" [Rom 8:26]. "You do not know what you are asking" [Mt 20:22].  

Thus it is clear that when we truly ask in his name, in the name of Jesus Christ, he will do it.  He says, “I will do it”, using the future tense, not the present tense, because he sometimes postpones doing what we ask so that our desire for it will increase and so that he can grant it at the right time.

- Lecture 4 on John’s Gospel