Images across the centuries

Yesterday we sang the hymn “The King of Love my Shepherd Is” as part of our celebration of “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The hymn is basically a paraphrase of Psalm 23, with one significant difference:

Psalm 23 was composed centuries before the birth of Christ. The hymn text was written in the 19^th Century. This means that the hymn text was written after the Resurrection of the Lord, and after centuries of lived faith and worship in the Church. Keeping that in mind, I’d like to show you 5 places where the hymn adds post-Resurrection imagery to the basic psalm.

1. The 2^nd verse of the hymn: Where streams of living water flow my ransomed soul he leadeth. The psalm text reads, “near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit.”

·         The image of living water comes from the story of the woman at the well in John 4.

·         My ransomed soul is something we can understand with our current faith. We have been ransomed by Jesus Christ through his death and Resurrection.

2. The hymn: “And where the verdant pastures grow with food celestial feedeth.”  The Psalm: ”you have prepared a banquet for me.”

·         In the hymn, the image of celestial food is Eucharistic. Perhaps the “banquet” is a foretaste, or as it is called, a type (symbol resolved in the New Testament) of the banquet of His Body and Blood.

3. The hymn: And on his shoulder gently laid, and home, rejoicing, brought me. The psalm text: “he guides me along the right path.”

·         The hymn uses the wonderful image of the Good Shepherd carrying the lost sheep home on his shoulders.

4. The hymn: Your rod and staff my comfort still, your cross before to guide me.  The hymn: “You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort.”

·         The staff now becomes the Cross, which both guides and comforts in times of need.

5. The hymn: O what transport of delight from your pure chalice flowing! The hymn: “my cup is overflowing.”

·         Here again, the cup is a type of the chalice which overflows for us in the Eucharistic banquet.

It has been said that the psalms are often a prefigurement of Jesus Christ Himself. Here is a wonderful example. Let us all give thanks for the richness of the imagery of our faith which is more than just an imagery, but rather something that points to the reality we share and give thanks for as Christians.

God bless you!