but he who serves for wages, and who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf seizes them and scatters the sheep.
The Lord has already spoken of the thief; now He names a second figure who looks far more respectable — a hired hand who works among the sheep but does not own them. The question is not whether he is wicked, but whose the sheep are, because when danger comes that one fact decides everything.
The hired hand, or hireling, is not accused of theft or false teaching. His problem is the reason he works — and that reason only shows itself under pressure.
The hireling does not necessarily teach false doctrine, but he serves for wages. Peter warns us against shepherding the flock of God for "shameful gain" (1 Peter 5:2). He also warns that some will arise who "in their greed" will "exploit" the saints (2 Peter 2:3). Christendom has largely fallen into the snare of the hireling. The hireling may profess to tend the sheep but his motive is self. So when danger arises, he thinks of his own safety and flees.
Another writer draws the line even more sharply: he may do genuine good, and still fail at the one moment that counts.
Thirdly, there is the Hireling (verse 12). He may serve the sheep in useful ways; may give them food and water. But he is not their owner; he does his duty in return for his wages. When an emergency comes, however, he fails. He considers his own interests rather than those of the sheep.
The Lord traces the flight back to one fact: the sheep do not belong to him. Ownership, not skill, makes a man stay.
The sheep are not the hireling's own, so he will not suffer to save them. But the Shepherd loves them with a never-dying love. He will face every foe and every question on their behalf. He became Man so that He might die for them. They lay under the condemnation of death, and only His death could deliver them from it.
One writer separates care for the fold from care for the sheep inside it.
He is not shepherd, but he has the sheep under his care… He is there for the gain from the sheep. He acts from this view, not from care for the sheep… Those who have been shepherds of the Church in name only have had this character — not devouring the sheep, but being unfaithful to them. If they have not been thieves, they have been "hirelings." Caring for the fold counts for nothing. What marks the true Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, is caring for the sheep, because they are His sheep.
The wolf is the danger the hireling runs from. One writer names him and marks the limit of his power.
The wolf is Satan himself, who acts through his servants, masquerading as "servants of righteousness." He is out to do all the damage to the sheep that he can. He cannot snatch them out of the Shepherd's hand — the same word this verse uses — but he can and does catch them in other ways, and scatter them. He has been only too successful in this evil work.
The failure is a failure of love. So what should drive service instead?
Here the Lord first describes not their trials, but the character of the man who claims what is not his own but Christ's. That man deserts them openly in the hour of danger… Divine love worked in God's purpose and will, and it worked in Christ's death too. Nothing is good or acceptable where love is not the motive. It is the true and only right spring of service — as the Lord said to the servant, now fully restored and reinstated after denying Him, "Feed My lambs — My sheep."
This is not only about bad leaders elsewhere. It is a mirror for the day when standing by God's people costs something.
Let us beware when difficulties arise among the people of God. We must not act on the principle of the hireling. That means thinking only of our own safety and comfort in our own path, and so deserting the sheep in the time of danger and distress.
The comfort of the passage is that the sheep's safety was never resting on the hired man in the first place.
The Lord Himself marks the difference between what the care of human shepherds achieves and the security His own care gives. Speaking of the security of His sheep, He says, "He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep," and, "the wolf snatches them and scatters them." But further on He says, "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand."
- Ownership decides. The hireling runs because the sheep are not his. Everything else in the verse follows from that.
- Ownership creates love. Christ owns the sheep and therefore faces the foe, giving His life where the hired man saves his own.
- Love produces service. Wages can buy the work; only love stays when the wolf comes. That is why the Lord told a restored servant, "Feed My sheep."
- Where love fails, the wolf works. He cannot pull a sheep from the Shepherd's hand. But he catches and scatters, and unfaithful shepherds leave the door open to him.
- Test yourself, then rest. Ask if you would leave God's people when it costs you. Then remember: their final safety is in a hand no one can snatch them from.
Now he who serves for wages flees because he serves for wages, and is not himself concerned about the sheep.
The Lord has just described a man who runs when the wolf comes. Here He gives the reason, and it goes to motive: the sheep mean nothing to a hired man.
The chapter has already spoken of thieves and robbers. The hireling is a different figure.
The contrast here is no longer only with a thief or a robber, with murderous intent or plainly selfish aims of the worst kind. There might be others marked by a milder form of human evil. They do not destroy the sheep, but they are out for themselves.
The danger is that this milder evil looks respectable. The hireling holds a real position over the flock:
Now we have another character, "the hireling"; not the thief, but the hireling. He is not shepherd, but he has the sheep under his care. This is a terrible state of things. The sheep are not his. He is there for the gain from the sheep. He acts from this view, not from care for the sheep.
His flight is not just cowardice. He works for wages, and nothing deeper ties him to the flock.
Here is a shepherd who is only looking after the sheep for his wages. He has no vital interest in the sheep. He does his duty, we hope, but in an emergency he is not going to sacrifice himself for the sheep. So when the wolf comes, he runs away. The sheep do not really belong to him, and he does not care for them. There is no link at all between him and the sheep he is meant to tend and watch.
Something does hold his interest, and danger reveals what it is.
Some men openly take the position of pastor of the flock of God for mere gain or social privileges. When persecution then puts those things at risk, such a man runs from his post. That shows he is at best only a hireling. The hireling cares for the fleece of the sheep, and not for the sheep themselves. Sadly, this is widely seen in Christendom today.
Darby draws the dividing line between the false shepherd and the true one at a single point — the object of the care.
The fold is in his power, and the sheep are merely the most helpless part of his prey. Still, he is not the wolf. He carries the name of shepherd, but he is not one; he is a hireling. He sees the wolf coming, and he runs away. Those who have carried the name of shepherd in the Church have had this character — not devouring the sheep, but unfaithful. If they have not been thieves, they have been hirelings. Caring for the fold is nothing. What marks the true Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, is caring for the sheep, because they are His sheep.
If wages cannot keep a man at his post, something else must. Kelly names it, and points to the moment the Lord restored Peter and gave him the sheep to feed.
Just as divine love worked in God's purpose and will, so it worked in Christ's death. Nothing is good or acceptable where love is not the motive. Love is the true and only right source of service. The Lord showed this to the servant He had fully restored and reinstated after his denial of Him: "Feed My lambs — My sheep." He does hold out the most glorious rewards to encourage a servant who is already on Christ's path and is quick to be cast down by its difficulties. But love alone is recognised as what makes him serve.
The hireling is not only a figure in church history. He is a principle any of us can act on.
When difficulties arise among the people of God, let us beware of acting on the principle of the hireling. That means thinking only of our own safety and comfort in our own path. It means deserting the sheep in the time of danger and distress.
The failure of human shepherds is real, yet it does not settle the fate of the flock. Darby sets the hireling's flight beside what the Lord says a few verses later.
The Lord Himself marks the difference between the care of human shepherds, with its effect, and the security His own care gives. Speaking of the safety of His sheep, He says the hireling runs away. He runs because he is a hireling and has no care for the sheep. The wolf then comes, seizes the sheep and scatters them. But further on He says that He gives them eternal life. They will never perish, and no one can snatch them out of His hand.
- Ownership — The hireling runs because the sheep were never his. No link ties him to them, so nothing holds him when danger comes.
- Motive — He is not a thief, only a self-seeker. He takes the pastor's place for gain or social privileges, not for the sheep.
- Object — He cares for the fleece, not the sheep. Caring for the fold is nothing; caring for the sheep, because they are Christ's, marks the true Shepherd.
- Love — Wages cannot hold a man at his post. Love alone is the right source of service, which is why the Lord told the restored Peter to feed His sheep.
- Safety — Human shepherds fail and the wolf scatters the flock, but the sheep the Lord holds will never perish, and no one can snatch them out of His hand.
I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine,
Jesus has just described a hired man who runs when the wolf comes. Now He says what sets Him apart: the Shepherd and His sheep know each other — but how deep does that knowing go, and what does it cost Him?
One commentator explains that the hired man is not a criminal. His wages decide how he acts, and that is where the Shepherd stands apart.
The hireling is not necessarily evil like the thief; but being a man who works for wages, his interest is primarily a monetary one. The sheep are of interest to him only so far as they are the means of his livelihood. He does not really care for them enough to risk his skin on their behalf. It is far otherwise with the Shepherd, who lays down His life for them and establishes a link of wonderful intimacy.
Notice which half of the verse the Lord puts first. One writer shows how kind that order is for anyone who doubts their own grasp of Christ.
As for the sheep, they hear His voice, and follow Him. Then, speaking of Himself, He declares, "I know them." Of the sheep's knowledge of Him He here makes no mention. His knowledge of them He makes prominent. How gracious was this! Many a person might question his or her knowledge of Christ. Did they know Him rightly? Did they know Him as they ought? And then write bitter things against themselves. Now here He gives no room for such morbid thoughts. The question for them is a very different one. Do they hear His voice? Do they follow Him?
That knowledge takes in everything a sheep could worry about in itself.
He knows His sheep with a perfect knowledge. Their weakness, their ignorance, their tendency to wander, their many needs — He knows them all. And knowing them, He loves them with a love that led Him to lay down His life for the sheep.
He has already given His life for the flock. What more could He add? One writer finds the answer in the second half of the verse.
It might be said, if He has given His life for them, He can do nothing more. But no! it is not so with Him. See verse 14, "I know my own and my own know me." There is not only caring for the flock as a whole, but for the individual sheep.
One writer insists the sentence does not stop at the end of verse 14. What follows gives the measure of this knowing.
The 14th and 15th verses really form one sentence. They are not divided as we have them in our Bibles. The meaning is that He showed Himself as the good Shepherd because He knew the sheep, and they knew Him, just as He knew the Father and the Father knew Him. The knowledge that the Father and the Son have of each other is the pattern for the knowledge between the Shepherd and the sheep.
Another writer weighs that closeness against what the Jewish people knew before.
The Lord Jesus Christ wants to give us an idea of the intimacy that will exist between Himself, the Good Shepherd, and the sheep. To do it, He has to tell us of the intimacy that exists between the Father and the Son. This is far better than visiting terms: these are at home terms… What a contrast to Judaism, where there was distance.
The sheep know Him too, and one writer says this goes well past knowing a voice.
This is the highest blessing the sheep are capable of. It means entering into His own thoughts, ways, and desires — yes, the knowledge of Himself. This is how He brings us into communion with Him. We may know His voice, and be following Him, and yet have little acquaintance with His character.
Even the weakest believer can rest on the Shepherd's side of this knowing.
The feeblest believer finds no difficulty when the Son of God says, "I know my own"… We are sure that He knows us. He knows all things and all men. Deep inside, we know that He knows and loves His own… Not one of His sheep ever escapes the watchfulness of His eyes! Not one is ever forgotten for one moment by His loving heart!
- Cost. The hired man values the sheep for his wages. The Shepherd values them enough to die, and that death opens the way into this closeness.
- His knowing first. He speaks of His knowledge of the sheep before theirs of Him. That comforts anyone unsure how well they know Christ. His test is simple: do they hear His voice and follow?
- Each one. His care is not only for the flock as a whole but for the single sheep, weakness, wandering and all.
- The pattern. Verse 15 gives the measure: Shepherd and sheep know each other as the Father and the Son do. These are at home terms, not distance.
- The reach. Knowing His voice is the start. Knowing Him is the highest blessing a sheep can reach. And no sheep slips out of His sight along the way.
as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Here Jesus compares His knowledge of His own sheep to the knowledge the Father and the Son have of each other. Two questions follow: what kind of knowing does He promise ordinary people, and why does a claim about knowing end in dying?
Verses 14 and 15 belong together as a single thought, and older translations broke the link with a full stop. One writer traces the damage that punctuation did:
This mutual knowledge almost entirely disappears in the Authorised Version because of the unhappy full stop between verses 14 and 15, and the mistranslation of the earlier clause of verse 15 that follows from it.
Read as one sentence, the comparison sets the standard for the whole relationship.
Verses 14 and 15 really form one sentence. They are not divided as we have them in our Bibles. The meaning is that He showed Himself to be the good Shepherd because He knew the sheep and they knew Him, just as He knew the Father and the Father knew Him. The mutual knowledge between the Father and the Son is the pattern of the knowledge between the Shepherd and the sheep.
Can the sheep really know Christ the way the Father and the Son know each other? One writer answers by separating the measure from the character.
Of course this does not state the measure of the intimacy between the sheep and the Shepherd. They could never reach the same measure that exists between the Father and the Son. Still, it is true that the same character of intimacy is theirs with Him... By God's Word and Spirit, His grace and power and love have produced in the sheep a nature fitted by God for this wonderful privilege.
The comparison also tells us what kind of knowledge the sheep have.
From this comparison we can be sure that the knowledge of Christ's sheep here is neither uncertain nor unclear. It is the knowledge of a Person, not knowledge about Him. Knowledge about the Lord does grow over time. But knowing Him is what marks the very youngest lamb of the flock, as one who is not of the world, which does not know Him.
Another writer shows what this knowing brings, and what a believer may still lack.
This is the highest blessing the sheep are capable of, for it means entering into His own thoughts, ways and desires — yes, the knowledge of Himself. This is how we are brought into communion with Him. We may know His voice, and be following Him, and yet not be well acquainted with His character.
Jesus states the intimacy here without explaining the means. One writer looks to the letters of the New Testament for the answer.
From what the letters make clear, I can tell you how it can exist. It exists through the gift of the Holy Spirit, by the indwelling Spirit... The Lord is saying, "I am going to start something that far outshines anything known before I came. I am going to bring My sheep into this wonderful position where they may have intimate knowledge and communion with Me."
The verse ends with the Shepherd giving His life. One writer weighs the words closely:
"Lays down His life," or soul (compare Isaiah 53:10). The word for "life" here is quite different from the one in verse 10 (life in contrast with death). The following "for," as Meyer says, shows substitution, not just benefit.
Another writer sets the Shepherd beside the hired man:
The hired man cares only for his wages. The sheep are not his own, and he takes no personal interest in them... By contrast, between the Good Shepherd and His own there is a bond of the most tender intimacy... His sheep know Him, for they have received His life and nature, and in this way have been brought into communion.
Later in the chapter Jesus gives a second reason for the same act. One writer marks the difference:
He adds, "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life." Here He does not say "for the sheep." He says simply "that I may take it up again." So besides laying down His life for the sheep, He laid it down to prove His perfect confidence in His Father... It was the most complete, absolute giving up of Himself.
- Pattern — Verses 14 and 15 are one sentence. The Father and the Son know each other, and that is the model for the Shepherd and His sheep.
- Measure — The sheep never reach that measure of knowledge, but the same character of it is theirs.
- Person — This is knowing Him, not knowing facts about Him. It is not vague, and even the youngest believer has it.
- Means — One writer points to the indwelling Spirit, who gives the sheep this nearness, unknown before Christ came.
- Proof — Love proves itself in death: the hired man cares only for his pay, the Shepherd gives His life in the place of His own.