10:11
Jesus now declares explicitly that He is the good shepherd. Ezek 34 spoke of God shepherding Israel Himself, so this is a claim of great significance. It implies both that He is the good shepherd in that He will shepherd the flock in accordance with the way that God wants them shepherded, and completely contrary to the way the bad shepherds were going about their business. It also implies that Jesus is God. And far from killing and stealing, Jesus would lay down His life for the sheep. This obviously points forward to the cross.
10:12,13
Jesus now contrasts Himself with a hired hand. It could be that Jesus is likening the current leaders to hired hands, in that they were just doing a job, and doing it for their own sake. A hired hand does the job to earn money, and looks after the sheep only insofar as it enables him to make money. So if a danger to his life arises the self-interested calculation needs to be readjusted and the money is not worth losing his life for, so he will flee the danger, not caring for the sheep. Or, as I think is more likely, Jesus is stressing the depth of His commitment to us. They might have thought of a good shepherd as simply someone who does the job well, but Jesus is far more than this.
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