Psalm 23, the Responsorial Psalm for this Sunday, is arguably the most well-known and beloved psalm from the Holy Bible and one that is often sung at funerals. The central image of this psalm is that of the Lord as the Good Shepherd, which is the theme of the Fourth Sunday of Easter every year.
The metaphor of the Lord as the Shepherd runs through the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. In the Gospels, as we see in the passage for this Sunday, Christ applies the image of the Shepherd to himself. He is the Good Shepherd, and we, his followers, are his sheep. In the context of the biblical tradition, for Christ to call himself the Shepherd is to claim divine authority. Christ makes it clear that it is through him and only through him that we can have eternal life. The doctrine of Christ being the only path to salvation is stated very clearly in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of John. The biblical teaching is clear: There is no way to eternal life in Heaven without Christ.
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Photo Credit: Jesus as the Good Shepherd from the early Christian catacomb of Domitilla/Domatilla circa 350 A.D. from Wikimedia Commons.
