Others point us to science as having the answers to ultimate questions. Even scientists recognize that science has no such answers. The problem with science is that it doesn’t explain everything. It doesn’t explain metaphysical laws of logic, the existence or concepts of good and evil or ethics and morality. For all of the propaganda to the contrary, science cannot explain our origin or our destination. These things are beyond the observable, natural world and require a different kind of knowledge or experience to be ascertained.

Legion are those today who would point us to relativism as the answer to the individual’s search for meaning. The primary problem with relativism is that it is irrational and violates laws of logic including those of identity, non-contradiction, the excluded middle, and rational inference. It makes no allowance for objective truth and as such cannot explain the world in which we live or the universal reality we experience.

By way of example, some things are true for everyone (laws of logic; mathematic formulas; natural law; universal experience). Suppose you and I are riding in an automobile. If you say the car exists and I say it does not, then I am wrong. My assertion would not only be a violation of the laws of non-contradiction and the excluded middle (something cannot exist and not exist at the same time and it either does or it does not exist, there is no in between), but it would be a denial of the very reality I am experiencing, namely, that of riding in a car. Such a premise would be absurd. To hold such a worldview would make communication, inference, or any real interaction impossible or meaningless. We might as well deny our own existence and lie down and die.

Second, Christ is superior to all other would be shepherds because those other shepherds are nothing but thieves and robbers, as noted. Why would someone seek to enter in a way other than the door? When I was a kid, I would find myself locked out of the house sometimes and I would seek to gain entry through a window. Of course, thieves seek to gain entry through means other than the door so as to remain undetected. Those who don’t have access to the house seek to enter in by some way other than the door. This is the point Christ makes. Those who would seek to enter into life by means other than the door are locked out. In fact, they are thieves because they lead others to seek entry by means other than the door. In that sense, they seek to steal sheep that belong to Christ.

False shepherds seek to steal Christ’s sheep and they do so for personal gain. They may seek to take advantage of persons and their fears, desperation, adverse circumstances, or even greed to garner financial reward for themselves. They may seek power or accolades by stealing Christ’s sheep. Whatever the reason, they are robbers according to Christ.

Third, Christ is superior to all other would be shepherds because He alone is the true shepherd of the sheep. In vv. 2-4 we read, “But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”