Statues don't perspire. The characters portrayed in stained-glass windows don't blink. And so we are tempted to forget that the people they so nobly represent were human beings, just like us. In the statue's solidness and in the window's beauty, they cannot do justice to the blemishes and the frailties of the men and women they depict.
We have seen so many of our biblical heroes portrayed in art: in glorious stained glass, in noble statues, and in sweet portraits on Sunday school room walls. Those depictions have so often been glorified and idealized. Long before contemporary magazine covers were offering us airbrushed images of celebrities, Michelangelo carved for us a perfect David and a magnificent Moses.
The portraits painted by scripture, however, are not so touched-up. While men …