Evidently this teaching followed what John recorded in chapter 9 (v. 21), but exactly when between the feast of Tabernacles (7:2, 14, 37) and the feast of Dedication (v. 22) it happened is unclear. The place where Jesus gave it appears to have been Jerusalem (v. 21). Probably this teaching followed the preceding one immediately. The thematic as well as the linguistic connections are strong. The blind beggar had just been put out of the fold of his synagogue (9:34), so Jesus spoke of His fold, which the beggar had now entered (cf. 9:35-38).
This teaching is quite similar to what the Synoptic evangelists recorded Jesus giving in His parables, but there is a significant difference. John called this teaching a figure of speech (Gr. paroimian) rather than a parable (Gr. parabole). Parables generally stress one point of comparison, but the sustained metaphors that follow develop many similarities. John did not include any Synoptic-style parables in his narrative.
Jesus evidently chose the figure of a good shepherd to contrast Himself with the bad shepherds who were misleading God's sheep. Many Old Testament passages castigated Israel's shepherds who failed in their duty (cf. Isa. 56:9-12; Jer. 23:1-4; 25:32-38; Ezek. 34; Zech. 11). God was Israel's Shepherd (cf. Ps. 23:1; 80:1; Isa. 40:10-11). The shepherd metaphor also was a good one to picture Jesus' voluntary self-sacrifice for His people.
"The shepherd was an autocrat over his flock, and passages are not lacking where the shepherd imagery is used to emphasize the thought of sovereignty. Jesus is thus set forth in this allegory as the true Ruler of his people in contrast to all false shepherds."356
10:1 Jesus again stressed the importance of this teaching with a strong introductory preface to it. He then proceeded to point out several things about first century sheep-herding that illustrated His ministry. John's original readers would have understood these similarities easily since shepherding was widespread.
Jesus described a flock of sheep in a fold or pen that had solid walls and only one door (gate). Evidently the fold in view was a large enclosure some distance from any human dwelling place. Customarily several families who owned sheep that fed close together hired a watchman to guard the gate to such an exposed enclosure. He would admit authorized individuals but would exclude the unauthorized who might want to steal or kill some of the sheep. The words "thief"(Gr. kleptes, stressing trickery) and "robber"(Gr. lestes, stressing violence) are quite close in meaning.
God frequently compared His relationship to Israel to that of a shepherd and his sheep in the Old Testament (e.g., Ps. 80:1; Isa. 40:11; Ezek. 34:10-16; cf. Ps. 23:1). He also called Israel's unfaithful leaders wicked shepherds of His people (e.g., Isa. 56:9-12; Jer. 23:1-4; 25:32-38; Ezek. 34:4; Zech. 11). Moreover He predicted that one day a descendant of David would shepherd the nation properly (Ezek. 34:23-25; 37:24-28). Thus these figures all had meaning to the Jews to whom Jesus first addressed this teaching.
In verse 1 the thieves and robbers clearly refer to the religious leaders who were unfaithful to God and were seeking to harm His sheep for personal gain (cf. 9:41). Their rejection of Jesus as the Shepherd whom God had sent marked them as what they were.
10:2 In contrast to these plunderers, an approved shepherd would enter the pen through its gate rather than over its wall. Jesus was implying that He came to Israel as God's authorized representative, the Messiah. The religious leaders on the other hand did not have divine sanction for their dealings with Israel that were essentially destructive as well as selfish.
10:3 The doorkeeper was the person hired to protect the sheep from their enemies. In the case of Jesus' ministry this person corresponded to John the Baptist. Normally there were sheep from several different flocks belonging to several different owners that stayed together in these large pens. The pen then symbolized Israel or Judaism. Upon entering the pen a shepherd would call his own sheep to come out from the others, and he would lead them out to pasture. Normally shepherds did this with a distinctive call or whistle. This shepherd, however, called each sheep by its own name, which some commentators claimed was not uncommon in Jesus' day.357The scene pictures Jesus' calling every individual whom the Father had given Him to follow Him out from the other non-elect Jews (cf. Num. 27:15-18; John 14:9; 20:16, 29; 21:16). Jesus' sheep listen to His voice and follow Him (cf. 5:24).
"The Pharisees threwthe beggar out of the synagogue, but Jesus ledhim out of Judaism and into the flock of God!"358
10:4-5 Many shepherds drove their sheep before them and some of them used sheep dogs to help them. However this shepherd, as many others did, went before his sheep and led them where he wanted to take them. This description reflects the style of Jesus' leadership. He led His disciples who followed Him.
His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. They recognize Him for who He is, namely their Shepherd. Conversely they will not follow false shepherds because their voice or teaching is strange to them. Jesus was describing what is typical behavior in such relationships, not that every individual sheep always behaves this way in every instance, as experience testifies.
The point of these verses is how God forms His flock. People come to Jesus because He calls them, and they follow Him because they belong to Him. Many of the Jews who heard Jesus' voice disregarded Him because they considered Abraham or Moses as their shepherd.
10:6 Many of the Jews who heard these words did not understand what Jesus was talking about. They did not respond to the Shepherd's voice. They could hardly have failed to understand the relationship between shepherds and sheep that was so common in their culture. Nevertheless they did not grasp Jesus' analogy of Himself as Israel's true Shepherd.
The Greek word paroimia("figure of speech") occurs elsewhere in John's Gospel (16:25, 29) but never in the Synoptics.
"It suggests the notion of a mysterious saying full of compressed thought, rather than that of a simple comparison."359
A similar word, parabole("parable"), appears often in the Synoptics but never in the fourth Gospel. Both words, however, have quite a wide range of meanings encompassing many kinds of figurative language.
The difference between this teaching and Jesus' parables in the Synoptics now becomes clearer. Jesus proceeded to compare Himself to the pen gate as well as to the Shepherd. He also described Himself leading His sheep into the fold as well as out of it. Obviously Jesus was using the illustration to teach more than one lesson.
10:7-8 Jesus introduced another of His "I am"claims. He professed to be the door or gate of the sheepfold (cf. 1:51; 14:6). Some commentators have pointed out that some ancient Near Eastern shepherds slept in the gateways of their sheepfolds and so served as human gates.360This may seem to alleviate the incongruity of Jesus being both the Shepherd and the gate. However the other differences in the two pictures of the fold presented in verses 1-5 and 7-18 argue for separate though similar illustrations rather than one harmonious illustration. This pericope does not simply explain the previous illustration, but it develops certain metaphors in that illustration.
Jesus contrasted Himself as the gate with the thieves and robbers who preceded Him. He provided protection and security for His sheep whereas the others sought to exploit them. The thieves and robbers in this context refer to the religious leaders of Jesus' day (cf. v. 1). They are obviously not a reference to Israel's faithful former leaders such as Abraham, Moses, and other true prophets.
10:9 Jesus described Himself as a passageway. His sheep could enter and leave the sheepfold through Him. Obviously the sheepfold here does not refer to Israel as it did previously (vv. 1-5). People could not go in and out of Judaism at will through Jesus. It probably represents the security that God provides, and the pasture outside stands for what sustains their spiritual health and growth. Jesus provides for His people's security needs and for all their daily needs 24 hours a day.
10:10 Impostors' aims are ultimately selfish and destructive, but Jesus came to give life, not to take it.
"The world still seeks its humanistic, political saviours--its Hitlers, its Stalins, its Maos, its Pol Pots--and only too late does it learn that they blatantly confiscate personal property (they come only to steal'), ruthlessly trample human life under foot (they come only . . . to kill'), and contemptuously savage all that is valuable (they come only . . . to destroy')."361
Jesus on the other hand not only came to bring spiritual life to people, but He came to bring the best quality of life to them. The eternal life that Jesus imparts is not just long, but it is also rich. He did not just come to gain sheep but to enable His sheep to flourish and to enjoy contentment and every other legitimately good thing possible.
10:11 Verses 7-10 expand the idea of the gate from verses 1-5. Verses 11-18 develop the idea of the Shepherd from those verses.
Here is another "I am"claim. Jesus is the Good Shepherd in contrast to the bad shepherds just described (vv. 8, 10a). Rather than killing the sheep so He might live, as the bad shepherds did, Jesus was willing to sacrifice His life (Gr. psyche, the total self) so the sheep might live. It is this extreme commitment to the welfare of the sheep that qualified Jesus as the Good Shepherd.362Good shepherding involves protecting, providing, and self-sacrifice.
"Good"(Gr. kalos) connotes nobility and worth, not merely gentleness. It contrasts Jesus with the unworthy and ignoble shepherds that He proceeded to describe (vv. 12-13). Laying down His life is a uniquely Johannine expression that describes a voluntary sacrificial death (cf. vv. 17, 18; 13:37-38; 15:13; 1 John 3:16). Likewise the preposition hyper("for") usually connotes sacrifice (cf. 13:37; 15:13; Luke 22:19; Rom. 5:6-8; 1 Cor. 15:3). Most shepherds do not intend to die for their sheep but to live for them; they only die for their sheep accidentally. Yet Jesus came to die for His sheep. Of course, Jesus also came to die for the whole world (6:51; 11:50-52).
10:12-13 Thieves and robbers are wicked, but hired hands are typically just selfish. They take care of sheep for what they can get out of it, not for the sake of the job itself. While a good shepherd may be willing to sacrifice himself for the safety and welfare of his sheep, a hireling will save himself when danger arises (cf. Jer. 10:21-22; 12:10; Zech. 11:4-17). This is understandable since the shepherd who owns his sheep has a vested interest in them whereas a hired hand does not. Israel's leaders acted as hirelings when they tried to preserve their own positions and willingly sacrificed Jesus. Christian leaders behave as hired hands when we put our own needs ahead of those we serve (cf. 1 Pet. 5:2-3). Attitude is the crucial difference between a true shepherd and a hireling.
10:14-15 The mutual knowledge of the shepherd and the sheep is very important. Therefore Jesus stressed His identity as the Good Shepherd again. The sheep must know their Shepherd, and they can know Him as the Son knows the Father. The Son must know the Father to follow His will, and the sheep must know the Shepherd to follow Him faithfully. Jesus implied that the relationship the sheep enjoy with Himself is unique, as His relationship with His Father is unique. Yet each person maintains his own identity. Man does not become God, as the New Age movement, for example, teaches. The repetition of the Shepherd's sacrificial death in this verse also stresses that knowing the Shepherd involves appreciating the extent of His love.
"Know' (ginosko) in this Gospel connotes more than the cognizance of mere facts; it implies a relationship of trust and intimacy."363
10:16 The other sheep in view refer to Gentiles outside the fold of Israel who would believe in Jesus (cf. vv. 3-4). This is one of the few intimations in the Gospels that a new body would replace Israel as the people of God in the present age (cf. 17:20; Eph. 2:11-22; 3:6). These sheep, with those from Israel, would compose one fold, namely the church (cf. 1 Cor. 10:32). This rules out the possibility of a Jewish church and a Gentile church. That fold would have one shepherd, namely Jesus, who would become, to change the figure, the Head of the church. Jesus knew these sheep (vv. 14-15) as well as those who would believe on Him in Israel, "this fold"(cf. Ps. 100:3).
10:17 Having declared the intimate knowledge that the Father and the Son share, Jesus now explained why the Father loved Him as He did. Jesus did not mean that the Father's love resulted from the Son's performance. It would still have existed if Jesus had failed to obey Him completely. The Father loved the Son unconditionally from the beginning. However the Son's full obedience to the Father's will resulted in the Father having a special love for the Son that obedience under testing produced. Similarly God loves all believers unconditionally, but when we obey Him we enjoy an intimacy with Him that only obedience produces (cf. 15:14).
Jesus died sacrificially with His resurrection and glorification in view. He did not die thinking that He would remain dead. His death was an event in a larger chain of events that was always in view as Jesus anticipated the Cross.
10:18 Superficially observers could have concluded that Jesus died because of the Jews' conspiracy against Him. However, Jesus revealed that behind that instrumental cause was the efficient cause of God's purpose (cf. Acts 4:27-28). God had given Jesus the authority to offer Himself as a sacrifice for humankind's sins and to rise from the dead. Nevertheless the Son remained submissive to the Father in the triune hierarchy. Jesus willingly offered Himself; no human took His life from Him. However, He offered Himself in obedience to the Father's will. Anyone can lay his or her life down in death sacrificially, but only Jesus could lay it down and then take it again in resurrection.
Again Jesus' claims resulted in some of His hearers believing Him and others disbelieving (cf. 7:12, 43; 9:16). Here the expression "the Jews"refers to the Jewish people generally, not specifically to the religious leaders as it usually does in this Gospel. Evidently it was the apparent contradiction between Jesus' claim to be the coming Shepherd of Israel and His claim to die for the sheep that caused the cleavage. Some even concluded that He was demon possessed and therefore mad (cf. 7:20; 8:48). Others concluded that He was sane and sober because of His gracious revelations and His ability to cure the man born blind (9:1-12). John continued to stress the two opposite conclusions that people continued to draw even though Jesus' witness to His deity was consistent and clear. This should be an encouragement to all of us who testify for Him. Not even Jesus Himself convinced everyone that He was God's Son.
