112 Paul Danove If you remain in me and my sayings remain in you, [with affect] ask for whatever you wish, and it will happen for you. In John 16:26 asking by Jesus’ name again is the constraint, and the perspective is that of Jesus.14 This occurrence differs from the preceding occurrences (16:22-23) in not providing an explicit assurance that what is requested will be given. Thus the constraint is not fulfilled explicitly, and the verb form is middle. ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου αἰτήσεσθε (John 16:26) On that day, you [with affect] will ask by my name. The remaining two active and three middle occurrences appear in the context of other active and middle occurrences. Except for the change in usage and James and John as the referent of the Agent in both state- ments, the occurrences in Mark 10:35-38 parallel those in Matt 20:20-22. The context of the active occurrence introduces no explicit contextual constraints on the action, while the context of the middle occurrence introduces an unfulfilled constraint recognized by Jesus: being able to drink Jesus’ cup and to be baptized with the baptism with which Jesus is baptized. Thus the verb form is middle. προσπορεύονται αὐτῷ ᾿Ιάκωβος καὶ ᾿Ιωάννης οἱ υἱοὶ Ζεβεδαίου λέγοντες αὐτῷ· διδάσκαλε, θέλομεν ἵνα ὃ ἐὰν αἰτήσωμέν σε ποιήσῃς ἡμῖν…ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· οὐκ οἴδατε τί αἰτεῖσθε. δύνασθε πιεῖν τὸ ποτήριον… (Mark 10:35, 38) James and John the sons of Zebedee came to him saying to him, “Teacher, we want that you do for us whatever we ask”…But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you [with affect] are asking; are you able to drink the cup…”? The three occurrences in Jas 4:2-3 appear in statements by James with members of his community as Agent. The contextual statements that members of the community are involved in inappropriate actions (vv. 1-2a) that make them friends of the world and enemies of God (v. 4) identify appropriate actions and friendship with God as the constraints on asking God for something. These constraints are recognized by James but not by the Agent. The occurrence in v. 2, which appears in the statement that some members of the community don’t ask, reflects the perspective of James that they could not fulfill the constraints, even if 14 This discussion follows the UBS punctuation, which distinguishes the contexts of the occurrences in John 16:23-24 and 16:26.