In John 10:11-21 Jesus combines the meaning of the first two parables: the Parable of the Sheep and Their Shepherd and the Parable of the Gate, and he applies their content to himself in the Parable of the Good Shepherd. In the first parable, remember, the shepherd enters the fold by way of the door, vis-à-vis the heart of the believer, and the porter or gatekeeper, vis-à-vis the will of the believer, knows him and permits entry. Those who don’t own the sheep, but want them for their own purposes, enter by way of a plan or conspiracy, but they don’t have the heart and will of the sheep. As for the second parable, that of the Gate, remember it represents entry into life, and eternal life comes by knowing and following Jesus. He is the Gate into the Kingdom or Presence of God, and entry there is gained no other way.
So, how does Jesus put both of these parables into one? He begins by saying: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). The term, good, means more than the real or true shepherd, and it means more than the morally righteous. It carries with it the idea that he is worthy of the confidence of his sheep. Not only is he worthy of their trust, but he is good in an obvious way. He is the ideal shepherd. He is conspicuously faithful to them in that he has laid down his life for them, and there is no greater way to express one’s love for another, than if one lays down his life for his friend (John 15:13; 1John 3:16)
Jesus is not as the hireling, for the hireling doesn’t own the sheep. The hireling may have all the qualifications of the title: ‘shepherd’, and he may be a very morally righteous person, in that he would never want to hurt the sheep. Yet, at the same time, the fact that he is a hireling, and not the owner of the sheep, shows he has no vested interest in those he is hired to nourish and protect against harm. So, when the wolf approaches, he will run. His wages aren’t enough to risk his own life for the lives of others, and keep in mind that, although they are sheep in the parable, they represent men in reality. Therefore, the sheep are left to the wolf to devour and to scatter (John 10:12), because those men in authority, vis-à-vis righteous hirelings, were afraid to stand with Jesus, the ideal Shepherd (cp. John 3:1-2, 11; 12:42-43; 19:38).
The hireling may do a good job under normal circumstances, but when he is faced with danger, he will flee, because he has no personal interest in the sheep (John 10:13). The Good Shepherd, on the other hand, shares a mutual knowledge of his sheep. He knows them, and they know him (John 10:14). He knows their hearts, because he enters at the door (John 10:1-2), and he knows their hopes, and they know him (John 10:14, cp. 10:3-5), because they willingly yield their will to their shepherd.
Such mutual knowledge is uncommon, and can be compared only to that between the Father and the Son (John 10:15).[1] Thus, the sheep’s understanding of who Jesus is and his faithfulness to them is understood in Jesus’ own knowledge of the Father and the Father’s loyalty to Jesus. Likewise, the sheep’s hearing Jesus’ voice and their duty to follow him (John 10:3-4) is understood in how Jesus listened to the voice of the Father and did his will (John 15:10; cp. 5:19, 30; 8:28).
Finally, Jesus’ knowledge of his sheep is understood in perceiving the intimacy of the Father’s love for and understanding of Jesus and his willingness to vest all his hopes for the fulfillment of his will in his Son (John 3:35, 5:20; cp. 17:8), and Jesus laid down his life for his sheep (John 10:15; 15:9, 12). Therefore, we should lay down our lives for one another (1John 3:16).
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[1] My concluding idea is drawn from my take on the Pulpit Commentary on John 10:15.
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