NOTES for Joh 10:11

From ancient times the Israelites practiced livestock raising, breeding sheep above all. This is probably why the Bible speaks so much about shepherds and sheep, and more than once God uses the realities of shepherd life as images pointing to the relationship between Him and people. Jesus does this as well in His preaching. For us now these images may not be as clear as they were to people listening to Jesus twenty centuries ago: most of us know about sheep only that they give wool and meat, and that in general they are white, fluffy, and harmless. Accordingly, the shepherd's care for them does not seem to us anything special: first, they are so sweet, and second, he needs them!

In reality, it is not quite so. People who know the reality say that sheep are dirty, stupid, and malicious animals, and loving them is not at all natural. And the attempt to explain the good shepherd's care for the sheep by self-interest, by expectation of future dividends such as wool and meat, breaks down against his self-sacrifice: if he gives his life for the sheep, he will receive nothing from them! Therefore there is some other motivation here for the shepherd: selfless love for the sheep and fulfillment of the owner's will. Then this image used by Jesus adds new colors that allow us to see Christ's attitude toward us and His ministry to us in a new light.