The Lord is my Shepherd

With their richness and depth the images of Psalm 23 have accompanied the history and religious experience of the People of Israel and accompanied Christians. The figure of the shepherd, in particular, calls to mind the original time of the Exodus, the long journey through the desert, as a flock under the guidance of the divine Shepherd. And in the Promised Land, the king had the task of tending the Lord’s flock, like David, the shepherd chosen by God and a figure of the Messiah. Then after the Babylonian Exile, as it were in a new Exodus (cf. Is 40:3-5, 9-11; 43:16-21), Israel was brought back to its homeland like a lost sheep found and led by God to luxuriant pastures and resting places.

However, it is in the Lord Jesus that all the evocative power of our Psalm reaches completeness, finds the fullness of its meaning: Jesus is the “Good Shepherd” who goes in search of lost sheep, who knows his sheep and lays down his life for them. He is the way, the right path that leads us to life, the light that illuminates the dark valley and overcomes all our fears. He is the generous host who welcomes us and rescues us from our enemies, preparing for us the table of his body and his blood and the definitive table of the messianic banquet in Heaven. He is the Royal Shepherd, king in docility and in forgiveness, enthroned on the glorious wood of the cross.

Psalm 23 invites us to renew our trust in God, abandoning ourselves totally in his hands. Let us therefore ask with faith that the Lord also grant that we always walk on his paths as a docile and obedient flock, and that He welcome us to his house, to His table, and lead us to “still waters” so that, in accepting the gift of His Spirit, we may quench our thirst at his sources, springs of the living water “welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14; cf. 7:37-39). Amen.