NOTES for Joh 10:11
From ancient times the Israelites were engaged in animal husbandry, raising sheep above all. That is why the Bible says 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 the same in His preaching. For us now, these images are not as clear as they were to the people who listened to Jesus twenty centuries ago. Most of us know only that sheep give wool and meat, and that in general they are white, fluffy, and harmless. Accordingly, the shepherd's care for them does not strike us as anything special: first, they are so sweet, and second, he needs them.
In fact, everything is not quite like that. People who know the reality say that sheep are dirty, stupid, and vicious animals, and that loving them is not natural at all. And any attempt to explain the good shepherd's care for the sheep by self-interest, by the expectation of future dividends in wool and meat, breaks down against his self-sacrifice: if he gives his life for the sheep, he will receive nothing from them anymore. So here there is some other motivation for the shepherd: selfless love for the sheep and fulfillment of the will of the owner of the sheep. Then this image used by Jesus adds new colors that allow us to see Christ's attitude toward us and His service to us in a new light.