An article in ESPN magazine had the following quotes from Latino Major League Baseball players on the difficulty of eating in America:

“I used to go to the same place. Denny’s, because they had menus with pictures. I would point at what I wanted to eat.” – Carlos Gonzalez 

“When you wanted to eat something, you had to wait for someone who spoke English. I’d sit in my locker until someone came who could go out and eat with me.” — Hanley Ramirez

“The first thing you learn how to say is ‘the same,’ so you would order the same thing your teammate asks for because that’s the only thing you know.” — Edwin Encarnacion

The Latino players did not understand English, and English speakers did not understand them. So, they couldn’t follow each other. They needed a translator. We did too. We needed God to translate Himself, and He did: into a person. 

We forget how stunning the incarnation is, because we narrow Jesus down to being a Savior and think of Him only as a payment for sins. But Jesus is more. He’s God with us, in the form of a roommate or sibling. 

He’s the preexistent God distilled into a living creature. Jesus enfleshed the character of God, so we have more than an abstract concept of God. 

No more looking through foggy windows. No more guessing who God hangs out with and who He opposes. No more guessing how God lives. No more guessing who and what God values. Now we know.

If we struggle to grasp what God is like, we can look at Jesus. If we struggle with deciphering the Scriptures, we can look at Jesus. If we struggle to know what to do, we can look at Jesus. 

We don’t have to wait for an interpreter of any sort. We can just point to the picture on the menu, and point others to the same.