“Imagine Christ being crucified. If you were there, what you would like to say to Him?”

It was pointed out to me that a question in the Resilient Recovery Group Workbook failed to hit the mark. I intended the question to draw out expressions of love and admiration for the inestimable price that Jesus paid on the cross.

My logic was this. If the group focuses on Jesus’ moments of agony, they will develop a greater grasp of His love for us. And with that enhanced grasp of His love, we could be transformed into people whose hearts spill over with the fullness of love.

Yet someone—let’s call him Dan Solofra—pointed out that the question actually was causing us to suffer under the Law. (For a discussion of the proper distinction between Law and Gospel see this).

He was right. As the question worked its way around the room, it was clear that the law was at work. People were devastated by the question, not inspired by it. They were weighed down by guilt, not uplifted by the transformative power of the Gospel.

• I don’t even know what I could say.

• It would be too much. The gore. His suffering.

• Why me? Why did you do this for someone like me?

How could the message of the Cross, be a message of the law?

[First, I have to say, that there is nothing wrong with the law being at work in a recovery meeting. Being aware of the depth of our depravity—especially as it was displayed in our substance use—is healthy. Such awareness can be a tool in our sobriety toolbox. (It is not the most powerful. But, a tool nevertheless).]

But, what I came to understand in our conversation was that a reflection on Jesus’ agony and suffering was like a story with the final chapter ripped out.

I might have been better able to inspire a true gospel reflection by asking, “Imagine you meet the resurrected Jesus in his glorified body. What would He tell you about the shame and guilt you carry?”

This question might inspire allow the group to mull over the implications of our forgiveness. My hope would be that it would cause us to experience that forgiveness, that freedom, that escape from the bondage of guilt and shame.

Such an experience is its own high—a worthy alternative to the altered consciousness that substances offer.

Even more, such an experience interrupts the cycle of guilt, shame, and nihilism that fuels addiction in its later stages. Contrary to the conventional portrayal of substance abuse, the trigger for picking up a drink or drug isn’t a desire to enjoy life. Instead, a common cognition among those who use is, “Everything sucks. Might as well get high.”

Newer additions of the Resilient Recovery Group Workbook will try to make use of this biblical truth: the Law diagnoses the disease, the Gospel gives the remedy.

Today, I want to hold fast to the resurrected LORD who is resurrecting me.