You are a jackass. We can say that even without knowing you. Don’t take it personally. We know you’re a jackass because we ourselves are jackasses. The biggest. And because it’s a universal human tendency. Here’s how it works.
“Thank God I’m not like _____________.”
How would you complete that sentence? We all utter this phrase, even if only in our minds.
Thank God I’m not like those Democrats. Or Republicans. Thank God I’m not like those conservatives. Or liberals. Like those millennials, or those baby boomers. Like those teetotalers or partiers. Home schoolers or public schoolers. Intellectual elites, blue collar types, Calvinists, Catholics, Feminists, Complementarians, Baptists, Buddhists, whatever.
It really doesn’t matter what you put in the second half of the sentence. It’s the first half that makes us jackasses.
The jackass sentence comes from one of Jesus’ parables:
“He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: ‘Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.’”
– LUKE 18:8–14
Jesus says “Pharisee,” but for our purposes it’s more or less an exact equivalent. It’s the assumption of superiority. The outrage over someone else’s actions or views. It’s the posturing and differentiating and distancing and slandering. All of it is exactly what the Pharisees embodied and therefore all of it is exactly anti-Christ.
“It’s the assumption of superiority. The outrage over someone’s views. It’s the posturing and differentiating and slandering. It’s exactly the Pharisees and exactly anti-Christ.”The question is not whether or not you’re a jackass, but what type of jackass you are. So we invite you to ask that question with us: What type of jackass are you? If it sounds harsh of us to suggest this, consider that both Ryan and I have embodied every type of jackass we mention here. Seriously. Currently, I’m pretty prone to be an Enlightened Jackass, and I’m seriously struggling with being a Political Jackass. Not long ago I was the quintessential Conservative Jackass. We’re not trying to point fingers to make you feel bad. That’s a jackass move. Instead, we’re trying to prompt confession so that we can move away from jackassery.
And what’s at the opposite end of the spectrum from “jackass”?
Jesus.
He’s the actual goal. We want to stop being Pharisees and get always closer to Jesus. He’s the one we need. He’s the anti-jackass. And he’s the whole reason we’ve launched this project. We want to kill the jackass in each of us so that we can all encounter Jesus. That’s the entire goal.
If you’re ready to do that, take a look at the categories and prepare your heart to be exposed.
We’ll keep this list growing for a bit, but so far, you can check out: