It’s good to be here with you. Ten days ago my wife and I were visiting our daughter and son-in-law in central Mexico. In Mexico City they took us to the National Palace in which hangs a painting of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. I’m intrigued by this painting. Hidalgo was leader in the Mexican war for independence from Spain; but, by the time people wanted a portrait of him, he was dead. Half a century later Joaquin Ramirez painted a picture of him but used his own brother’s face.

The face of one’s brother as the leader for independence is a good way to consider Jesus. Jesus has the face of our true brother (or “sister” if you want to think of him that way — that wouldn’t bother Jesus). Not that Jesus is “just like one of us.” That’s not how it works. Our Christian faith has a long history o…