d robbers." The contemporary
authorities in Jerusalem had come "before" Jesus, in so far as they had
prepossessed the minds of the people against Him, and forcibly kept the
sheep from Him. Their prior claims were the great obstacle to His being
admitted. They held the fold against Him. It must have been plain to the
people who heard His words that their own ecclesiastical authorities
were meant. And this is not contradicted by the added clause, "but the
sheep did not hear them." For these usurping leaders did not find the
ear of the people, although they terrified them into obedience.

2. The Good Shepherd is identified and distinguished from the hireling
by His object and His spirit of devotion--for these two characteristics
may best be considered together (vv. 10-13). The hireling takes up this
business of shepherding for his own sake, and just as he might take to
keeping swine, or watching vineyards, or making bricks. It is not the
work nor the sheep he has any interest in, but the pay. It is for
himself he does what he does. His object is to make gain for himself,
and his spirit is therefore a spirit of self-regard. Necessarily he
flees from danger, having more regard for himself than for the sheep.
The object of the good shepherd, on the contrary, is to find for the
sheep a more abundant life. It is regard for them that draws him to the
work. Consequently, as all love is self-devoting, so the regard of the
shepherd for the sheep prompts him to devote himself, and, at the risk
or expense of his own life, to save them from danger.

This differentiation of the hireling and the good shepherd was, in the
first instance, exemplified in the different conduct of the authorities
and Jesus towards the blind man. The authorities having fallen into the
idea which commonly ensnares ecclesiastical magnates, that the people
existed for them, not they for the people, persecuted him because he had
followed his conscience: Jesus, by interposing in his favour, risked His
own life. This collision with the Pharisees materially contributed to
their determination to put Him to death.

Probably our Lord intended that a larger meaning should be found in His
words. To all His sheep He acts the part of a good shepherd by
interposing, at the sacrifice of Himself, between them and all that
threatens (vv. 17, 18). His death was voluntary, not necessitated either
by the machinations of men or by His being human. His life was His own,
to use as