1John 5:15 - When No Means Yes

"And if we are having come to know that He is hearing us whatever if we may be asking, we are having come to know that we are having the requests which we have asked from Him.”

-So, did Jesus in the Garden (cf Mark 14.36) HAVE the request which He asked of His Father?  What does that mean?  Did He get a YES answer, the exact thing for which He asked?  Surely He fulfilled the prerequisites.  He was filled with the knowledge of what the Lord wanted, surely (John 4.34).  Surely His heart was humble and He was seeking the Lord, totally turned from self.  Surely He always did the things which pleased His Father (John 8.29).  And yet, as far as we can tell, Jesus got nothing of what He asked.  Not any assurance that He had been heard in the least.  There is a possible exception in Luke’s account (Luke 22.42-44), where we do read that an angel did come to strengthen Him, ostensibly in response to His prayer.  Apparently there is some question as to whether the verse about the angel was originally included by Luke (and neither Matthew or Mark mention it).  Nevertheless, we can fairly ask, what knowledge did Jesus have exactly?  Surely God the Father heard His Son.  And He said no.  His heavenly Father, Who said He was well pleased with Him, very much so, said no to His Son.  So what is John talking about here?

-Clearly, what we are NOT talking about IS the ability to turn the Lord into some kind of an automated bank teller, where we zip up, whip out our card and enter the secret PIN to get whatever and as much of what we want.  God is not some heavenly vending machine where we stick in our quarter (well, more than that these days) and push the right button to get our snack or beverage of choice.  This is not Sam’s Choice (altho that soda might still be had for a quarter...?).  This is not about us - it’s about the Kingdom of God, extending the knowledge and celebration of His breathtaking goodness to the ends of the earth.  It's about what God wants.  And that's how Jesus ends His prayer in the garden.  Not what I want, but what You want, Father.  And in this sense, Jesus wound up having the request which He asked from His Father in the truest sense.  More than anything, and in the end, He wanted what His Father wanted, and that's what He asked for in the end, and He got that in spades.  The Father's no was a yes - but that was based on the nature of the ask.  Jesus didn't just ask for what He wanted - more than anything else He wanted what His Father wanted.  And that should be our goal - not to get what we want, but to want what the Father wants.  And when we get to that place, even a no can be a yes.