“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.”
John 10:17 — Greek Interlinear
Church Fathers on John 10:17
Two evil persons have been mentioned, one that kills, and robs the sheep, another that does not hinder: the one standing for those movers of seditions; the other for the rulers of the Jews, who did not take care of the sheep committed to them. Christ distinguishes Himself from both; from the one who came to do hurt by saying, I am come that they might have life; from those who overlook the rapine of the wolves, by saying that He gives His life for the sheep. Wherefore He said…
As if He said, I love My sheep, and they love and follow Me. For he who loves not the truth, is as yet very far from knowing it.
Hence the difference of the hireling and the Shepherd. The hireling does not know his sheep, because he sees them so little. The Shepherd knows His sheep, because He is so attractive to them.