John 16:26
John 16:2626In that day you will ask in My name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
Read as confirming Jesus' role as mediator — requests are made in his name and reach Jehovah through him. The second half of the verse is usually passed over quickly, since the Watchtower's picture of prayer has Jesus conveying requests to the Father, and the verse appears to say he does not.
This is the verse that dismantles the middleman model, and it does it in the NWT as clearly as anywhere: "in saying this, I do not mean that I will make request for you." Jesus explicitly denies that he will be passing the message along. The reason he gives is the striking part — "for the Father himself has affection for you." The Father does not need persuading. He acts on a prayer offered in the Son's name as directly as if it were offered in his own. So put the two halves together. Prayer in the new era carries Jesus' name, and the Father honours it immediately, and Jesus is not relaying it. That leaves the question of what his name is doing in the transaction at all — and the answer cannot be "acting as a courier," because he has just ruled that out. Add , where Jesus says he will answer such prayer himself, and you have someone receiving and answering requests made everywhere at once, in every language, often silently. Compare , , .