Our Good Shepherd’s One Way, One Truth, and One Life

Jesus describes Himself as the Good Shepherd. He went on to say that He “came so that [we] might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Jesus tells us that “the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out… he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice” (Jn 10:3,4). Jesus proclaimed the Gospel openly and publicly, but many who heard Him rejected what He had to say. They heard His words, but they did not recognize His voice.

This is still true today. Many hear Jesus’ words but do not recognize His voice. If they do not recognize His voice, they will not follow Him just as sheep will not follow a stranger. Our Good Shepherd calls us to follow Him and to hear His voice so that we “might have life and have it more abundantly.” If we do not follow Jesus and if we do not hear His voice, then we will not truly have the fullness of life, the abundant life that God wants for us. Apart from Jesus, we will have an impoverished life now and we will certainly not have the fullness of life in heaven that awaits those who follow Jesus and hear His voice.

Today people want to define their own path, their own truth, and their lives according to their own standards. Yet we are much more like sheep than we are willing to admit. We all belong to some sort of flock, we are all led by someone or something, and our lives will be determined by the flock we belong to and the one who leads us. This is why Jesus very clearly teaches His disciples that “I am the way and the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6). Notice He does not say that He is a way or that He is a truth or that He is a life. No, He is the one way, the one truth, and the one life. There are no alternate paths, there are no shortcuts. Jesus is the One Way. We either follow Him or we follow something or someone else. This is why Jesus warns us to “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many” (Mt 7:13).

There are no multiple truths, but only one unchanging truth whether we like the truth or not. If we think we can control the truth or to define it as we wish, we are denying Jesus Himself and declaring ourselves to be god just like Adam and Eve. Jesus testifies to the importance of the one truth when He says “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Jn 8:31-32). To those who reject the truth, Jesus goes on to say, you “belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44).

There is one life, there is one way to live. We live in a society that promotes alternate lifestyles that are at odds with what God has revealed through both nature and the Scriptures. Our society does not like it, but study after study shows that those who live as God intends tend to have happier and longer lives with better physical health, mental health, and marriages. Again, our Good Shepherd assures us that He “came so that [we] might have life and have it more abundantly.” Thus, our Good Shepherd calls us to follow Him in the way, to hear His voice that speaks the absolute truth, and to abide in His presence that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

If we choose to go some other way, we have to understand that “the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction.” If we embrace something that is not the absolute truth, we are rejecting God, exalting ourselves as false gods, and declaring that we are begotten of satan, the father of lies. If we choose a life that is contrary to what our Creator intends for us, we will have impoverished lives in this world and we will know absolute, unrelenting, and eternal impoverishment in the world to come.

In other words, the Good News is that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Logically speaking, if there is Good News, then it follows that there is also bad news. The bad news is anything other than our Good Shepherd’s one way, His one truth, and His one life. Where the bad news leads certainly is bad news, very bad news indeed.

—Fr Booth