In Holy Scripture at John 10:11-12 we read: "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep." This passage is very important because it echoes and crystallizes many of the other actions and sayings of the Christ in his ministry, to which truths built around sheep and shepherds are common throughout scripture, because it was an era when the people were intimately familiar with the importance of both sheep as well as the need for a good shepherd because the community understood well the value of sheep, as sheep provided meat, wool, hides, skin, and milk.
As with many passages of the Christ, there are many layers of interpretation, to which quite clearly we can see that Christ indicates that he is the good shepherd, that is to say, that he is the one to monitor and to take responsibility of his sheep, of his flock, and of his people. This signifies for the flock that Christ the Shepherd is the one to follow and to respect because He is the one that will protect us and guide us, even unto His own death. The fact that Jesus refers to himself as the good shepherd is of immense importance, as in other Biblical passages He said that only God was good, so the declaration that he was the good shepherd, indicates that he is one with God. Then too, there is a comparison of the hired hand to a shepherd, to which Christ quickly discriminates between he who cares and is willing to sacrifice all for the good of his community as compared to a man merely working for wages so that when the going gets tough and this hireling finds himself in difficulty of life or limb or of having to take an action of courage, abandons the sheep, because the sheep are not of his own. This abandonment leaves the sheep without a leader, leaving the sheep susceptible to the ravages that a wolf brings as part of his natural character, along with the fact that the sheep are no longer united, but have scattered to the winds.
This demonstrates too the importance of having true leaders, to which it can be said, that those that perceive that they have no skin in the game, will, when the going gets tough, often abandon their posts without any unnecessary compunction. Additionally, Christ makes it clear that he is no "fair-weather" shepherd, indeed that He will not as the flock's shepherd abandon his charges, even unto death; it is this sort of responsibility that demonstrates the true merit of a man, it is not therefore how a man behaves when the going is good, but instead how a man behaves when the going gets terribly wrong.
Christ makes it clear that in this world our decisions matter and that those that profess that they know what is best for us, must not just preach the word, but must also live the word, because the difference between a good shepherd, a hireling, and a wolf are as follows: one will do all he can to protect and to lead his charges, dedicated inexorably to their welfare; while the hireling is just a shell of a man, just a pretender; and the wolf will do what wolves do, which is to exploit situations and weaknesses to their advantage, testing the waters, so as to know whether the shepherd that leads the sheep is the real deal or just a pale imitation of.