The thief comes not but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy I am come that they might have life, and might have [it] abundantly.
The Good Shepherd stands opposite the thief: the thief takes, and He gives life in full measure. Two questions follow — what did it cost Him to bring that life, and what does "abundantly" add?
The difference is not good shepherding against better shepherding. It is taking against giving. One writer sets the two motives side by side, and adds what the giving cost:
As for the thief, he came to steal, to kill, and to destroy. He wanted to profit himself by greed and dishonesty, and he did it by causing the sheep suffering and loss. The Good Shepherd came instead to save and to give life, and to give it more abundantly. It cost Him His own life, laid down for the sheep.
That cost was not optional. Without it, there would be nothing on offer at all:
If He had not come and died, there would have been no life at all for sinful people. Because He came and died, He gives life — and gives it in abundant measure to His sheep.
One writer looks at how the words should be translated.
"I came," said the Lord, "that they may have life and have it abundantly." That is how the original should read. The older King James translation says "more abundantly," and that is not the sense. He gives life in its fullness, in its abundance. What a word for the Jews standing by! The One they despised, and would kill if they could, came to give life to dead souls!
Another writer puts the meaning of "abundantly" in three words:
"Above the common" is the force of the word "abundantly." Christ came to give this new life.
People before Christ came did have life. What changed was the measure, and the reason was the person who had now arrived:
There had been life when there was only a promise; there had been life all through the dealings of law. Clearly Christ had always been the means of life from the day death entered the world. But now that He had come, they would not only have life. They would have it "more abundantly." That was the effect of God's Son being here in this world. The Son of God humbled Himself in this world, even to death, the death of the cross. He also died in atonement for sinners. Was it not right that God should mark that infinite work and person with a far richer blessing than He had ever poured out before?
Commentators describe that richer blessing in different ways. Some tie it to resurrection and to freedom:
The "more abundantly" of verse 10 means more than the life every believer from Adam had. It means the liberty that redemption brought them into. It means life in resurrection power and character. Before that, they were treated no better than servants, though everything was theirs.
Others put the accent on shared company and joy:
Last of all, these blessings bring the sheep into the enjoyment of life. It is a life of communion with divine Persons, and it leads to fullness of joy. This is the abundant life. Natural life, even at its best, falls short, and its joy fails.
There is more here than bare survival. One writer draws the line between existing and living:
"I came that they may have life and may have it abundantly." That is our portion. Not the weak life of a sick man. Not bare existence. Thank God we have spiritual existence, but we have more. We have spiritual vitality, strength and enjoyment. These are ours in the risen Shepherd, who in His goodness once laid down His life for the sheep.
The abundance is offered, but it still has to be taken up. That turns the verse into a personal question:
To us today there is not only life but life "more abundantly". It is a good thing to ask ourselves, "Am I taking hold of the real abundant life that Christ has made known?" We all have to look at ourselves, whether we are young Christians or old ones.
- Contrast. The thief comes to take from the sheep; the Shepherd comes to give to them, at the price of His own life.
- Cost. Without His coming and His death there would be no life at all for sinful people. Every measure of life rests on that.
- Measure. Believers in earlier ages had life too. "Abundantly" means life above the common, and it marks the arrival of God's Son.
- Character. Commentators fill this out in two ways. One is the liberty and power of resurrection life. The other is communion with divine Persons, which brings fullness of joy.
- Claim it. This life is not weak or bare. It is vitality and enjoyment. The honest question is whether we are taking hold of it.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep
Jesus has just spoken of the door and of abundant life. Now He takes a title for Himself: the good Shepherd. What makes Him good is not skill or kindness. It is one act — He dies for the sheep.
One small word sets Him apart: the. Others cared well for a flock, yet none of them held this title.
Since the days of Abel there have been many faithful shepherds. Men like Moses and David tended their flocks with the care of a kind shepherd. As men, they were "good shepherds." But "a good shepherd," or "some good shepherd," is not "The Good Shepherd" — or "The Shepherd, the good One."
The same writer presses the difference between risking a life and handing one over. David is the test case.
He protected his father's sheep, entrusted to his care, at the risk of his own life. Through the grace and help of God he proved himself to be the very best of all good shepherds among men. But could David, for all that, ever be called "The good Shepherd"? No. David has not given, nor could he "give" his life. Staking your life and giving your life are two very different things. At first glance they may look almost equally worthy, or even the same… Only Jesus could give His life, as perfect Man, because His life had not, like ours, been forfeited by sin. So He alone, and no one else, can be called "The good Shepherd."
The verses that follow set a paid worker beside the Shepherd.
When He gave up His life for the sheep, the Lord showed Himself the very opposite of the hired shepherds before or since. Their slender interest in the flock vanished at the first roar of the lion or growl of the bear. Shepherds like that bargained for wages, not for wolves. They cared for themselves, not for the flock.
Why does the Shepherd die? One writer weighs what that death achieved against the motive behind it.
His death has done everything for them. It has redeemed them, washed them from their sins, justified them, and bought them for heaven. Still, I think the aim of the passage is the love and devotion of the Good Shepherd. Rather than lose His sheep, He lays down His life.
Why must the Shepherd die at all? One writer points to the condition every person is born in.
But this really made His death necessary. No one born in sin could enjoy any spiritual blessing apart from the Lord's atoning death. Everything believers enjoyed from Abel until the Lord's day was given in view of the sacrifice He would offer. The sacrifices of the past were only pictures of it… Here in this discourse (verse 11) the Lord first speaks in plain language of His death, and that for the sheep. They all need life. He would provide it, and He would die so that they might have it forever. Love indeed was this!
Nothing was forced on Him. Two things stand together here: full power, and full obedience.
The sword awoke against the Shepherd, and He proved Himself to be the Shepherd by standing between that sword and the sheep… He laid down His life; no one took it from Him. He had power to lay it down and power to take it again. These are wonderful words, proclaiming the fact of His Deity, for no creature could have spoken like that. Yet in the same passage He says, "This commandment I have received from My Father" (v. 18)… The supreme power of Deity was His. Yet He shows Himself to us in complete submission to the Father's command.
The Shepherd went where the sheep could not survive. Dying there was not the end of the story.
He gave His life for the sheep. He entered the field where death seemed to rule unchallenged. There He brought to nothing the one who had the power of death, that is, the devil. David struck down the mighty giant in the valley of Elah. In the same way the Good Shepherd, by dying, destroyed the great enemy and won deliverance for the sheep.
- The title — not one good shepherd among many. He is the Shepherd, the good One, and the word "the" rules out every rival.
- The proof — His goodness shows in surrender, not risk. Staking a life and giving a life are two different things.
- The contrast — hired men bargained for wages, not for wolves. They run when danger comes; He stays and dies.
- The necessity — no one born in sin can be blessed apart from His atoning death. The Shepherd's care had to reach that far.
- The victory — no one took His life from Him. He laid it down at His Father's command, went into death, and broke the power of the enemy for the sheep.