06.10 | The Why
John 1:1-28
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’
John 1:1
In 2010, Simon Sinek gave a talk at a TEDx conference entitled ‘How Great Leaders Inspire Action.’ Ranging from Martin Luther King Jr. to the Wright brothers to Apple, he drew together an analysis of how some individuals and organisations motivate activity vastly more effectively than others. The video quality now looks dated, there were issues with the sound system, and his only visual was a Flipchart and pen, and yet the talk remains among the most popular TED talks ever given, with over 66 million views to date.1
Sinek’s message was simple. He drew three concentric circles on the Flipchart, and argued that the greatest leaders don’t focus their organisations on what they do, or how they accomplish it. They begin, instead, with why. At the centre of their every decision, their every motive, their every value, is a cause or concern that means that all they do is wrapped around a clear and focused reason for doing it. Why, Sinek argued, needs to the the organising principle that everything else wraps around.
Today we start John’s Gospel. You’ll notice that it is different to Matthew, Mark and Luke. It has a different feel and tone. It includes far more dialogue and far less action. It is structured around seven handpicked ‘signs’ (specific miracles of Jesus that John picks out and the ensuing dialogue that came from them), seven ‘I am…’ statements of Jesus (where He makes unprecedented claims as to His identity) and seven Aramaic words, translated for us as readers. The Gospel opens with seven days — a straight week of Jesus introduction.
And John jumps right in at the deep end today.
In the beginning…
Creation echoes — the very Greek words used being exactly those first two words of the Old Testament. Jesus, John is saying, is at the centre of the Creation story. He is the organising principle of creation.
…was the Word…
Word, or, in Greek, logos, was a loaded term. In the Old Testament, it frequently refers to the embodied form of God’s voice, expressing God’s intervention into a situation. When the Word of the Lord arrives, His will and plans are laid bare. His heart is perceived. His plans are set in motion. Heaven is invading the earth. In Greek philosophy, logos described the rational power of the human mind, and the assumed logic of the universe. It was the elevation of the logical powers of the human mind, and the order of a creation that was inherently ordered, in a rational humanism that is not unfamiliar to our own day.
Jesus, John wants us to know, is the embodied will and heart and purpose of God. He is heaven’s invasion of a broken world.
Jesus, John wants us to know, is the ultimate rationality, and the ultimate order of the universe.
John goes on. Jesus is the source of life. Jesus is the only light. Jesus was the exclusive testimony and message of John the Baptist. Jesus makes an estranged humanity children of the Father. Jesus is the true tabernacle of God.2
Theologians love this passage.
And yet, the truths of it do not belong to the academic or the library. They search deeper, seeking the soil of hearts and lives and diaries and decisions. They are an invitation to a comprehensive new orientation of being. A movement of the soul around a new gravitational centre and obsessive focus, all to the single person of Jesus.
This is the invitation. This is the journey. This is the Gospel.
He is the invitation. He is the journey. He is the Gospel.
He is our why.
Reflect:
What most quickly takes the centre of my focus and motivations? What most quickly becomes my why?
Lay these things down in prayer, bringing God your longing to have Jesus at the core of all you do.
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
I have sometimes left you
On a library shelf—
A theological idea,
A nice ideology,
To be plucked down when I feel like it
And be forgotten when other concerns take my gaze.
I have sometimes reduced you
To a set of ruleish demands—
A low-bar morality
Of attempted niceness.
And, if I’m honest,
I have often wrapped you around
Other things—
Desires of career and platform and success and comfort
Becoming my ultimate,
And sickening my soul.
But, Lord Jesus,
I realign today,
With you at the centre.
Restore me, renew me, reorder me—
Every plan, every desire, every thought, every word, every motive—
Heart, mind, soul and strength—
To revolve and overflow
From You.
Lord Jesus,
In Your Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
2 Chronicles 16-18 | Psalm 118:1-13
You can view the talk at: https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?subtitle=en, September 2009
Literally translated, John 1:14 reads: ‘The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us…’