In "Christ as a good Shepard," Jesus is depicted as one with the sheep, sitting along side them. They are distributed evenly with 3 on each side of him, all in informal arrangements and positions. Jesus is depicted in gold and purple, however, demonstrating his superiority with a halo on top of his head. Also, the landscape is very detailed. He is shown under a blue sky surrounded by plants and grass, in contrast to "The miracle of the Loaves and Fishes" mosaic. This mosaic depicts Jesus under a gold sky, the standard background color for medieval mosaics. He is faced directly towards the viewer now, spreading his arms and directing his disciples to distribute the great amount of fish and bread he has just produced. The artist only used 4 disciples to make the work's meaning explicit; he also aligns the figures laterally behind Jesus, close to the foreground.

These two works compare in that they symbolize Jesus young and beardless. In Good Shepard Mosaic, the forms still have three-dimensional bulk, but the shading such as in the folds of the robes is less refined than in the past, and figured are not very grounded. The elements of realism have been sacrificed for a focus on spiritual elements such as anatomically incorrect tails of the sheep. "Miracle of loaves and fishes" is created in a very simple form in a small-scale frame. The rejection of illusionism takes away realistic features to focus on the religious meanings of the work, as Jesus holds a fish in one hand and loaves of bread in the other. The change from Roman functions of art to Christian functions of art is primarily the focus and purpose of the piece itself. Romans focused on detail and beauty of the art, while Christians gravitated towards telling stories of Jesus in simplified works of art to focus on Jesus himself and the story being told.