Matthew Henry Commentary John 16:23-27

"And in that day ye shall ask me no question. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, he will give it you in my name. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full. These things have I spoken unto you in dark sayings: the hour cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in dark sayings, but shall tell you plainly of the Father. In that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father." — John 16:23-27 (ASV)

Asking the Father shows a sense of spiritual needs and a desire for spiritual blessings, with the conviction that they come from God alone. Asking in Christ's name is acknowledging our unworthiness to receive any favors from God and shows full dependence upon Christ as the Lord our Righteousness. Our Lord had until then spoken in short and weighty sentences, or in parables, the meaning of which the disciples did not fully understand; but after his resurrection, he intended to teach them plainly those things that related to the Father and the way to him, through his intercession.

And the frequency with which our Lord stresses offering petitions in his name shows that the great purpose of Christ's mediation is to impress us with a deep sense of our sinfulness, and of the merit and power of his death, by which we have access to God. And let us always 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, since the Father and Son are one.