Resisting Resistance to Rehab

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Readings: Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 77 (78):1-2, 34-38; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17

Picture: By Simon Reza on Unsplash

My dear friends, do we still remember Amy Winehouse? The late British singer and songwriter is famous for having won 5 Grammy awards on a single night in 2008. 3 of those awards were for the hit single, Rehab. An autobiographical song about her own refusal to receive treatment for alcoholism. The song’s first line goes, They tried to make me go to rehab, but I said, "No, no, no”. Yet despite her initial resistance, Amy did check herself into a rehab facility. Only to lose her battle with addiction, and die from alcohol poisoning in 2011, at the tender age of twenty-seven. Leaving the world to mourn her tragic loss, and to wonder if there was anything that could have helped this talented young performer overcome her resistance to rehab, remain sober, and save her own life…

How to overcome resistance to rehab? Doesn’t the feast we are celebrating today invite us to ponder a similar question? For in the first reading, we’re told that the Israelites lost patience while making their way through the wilderness. And what is the wilderness, if not an ancient form of rehab? An unavoidable place of transition – a necessary crossing point – from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land. A very challenging place to be, because this is where the people need to learn to let go of their attachment to the comforts of slavery, their craving for satisfying food. Here they have to endure the pains of withdrawal, the torment that comes with being weaned from one’s addictions. Pains that must feel to them like death itself, but which actually lead to a fuller life. Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? What do we find in this angry query the people address to Moses, if not their resistance to rehab?

And what about those fiery serpents? Rather than a cruel punishment sent by a vindictive God, aren’t they more of a timely warning? A reminder to the people, that to return to Egypt, and to submit again to addiction, is to condemn themselves to certain death. Which may then explain why gazing upon the elevated, or exalted, bronze serpent, brings healing. Not so much because the image has any power in itself, but because of what it signifies. For all who gaze upon it with the proper dispositions, the bronze serpent is a helpful means to recall both the terrible consequences of addiction, and the loving care shown to them by their merciful God. Memories that then generate the strength needed to persevere through rehab, and to reach sobriety.

The wilderness as a place of crossing and challenge, and the elevated serpent as a reminder both of the consequences of addiction, and the care offered by God. Crossing and challenge, consequences and care. Don’t these elements of rehab provide the wider spiritual background for the feast we are celebrating today? Isn’t Jesus saying as much in the gospel, when he compares his own Crucifixion on Calvary to the raising of the serpent in the wilderness? Like that cold bronze statue, the Lord’s lifeless body will be elevated on a Cross to strengthen those who require rehab. Reminding us of both the terrible consequences of addiction, and the loving care offered by the God who refuses to let us go. Except that now the consequences and the care are increased by an infinite measure. For the Cross points not just to the consequences we ourselves have to bear, but also to those borne by God for our sake. As the second reading reminds us, Christ did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself… even to accepting death on a cross… Death suffered at the hands of cruel men, angrily resisting rehab. But God raised him high. God glorified, exalted him…

Isn’t this the same life-giving memory we recall every time we celebrate the Eucharist? A memory from which we draw the strength we need both to undergo rehab, and to help others do the same. A memory that should be evoked not just here at Mass, or when we happen to look at a crucifix. But also every time we encounter those who suffer the effects of addiction. Both their own, and that of others. People enslaved by more obviously addictive stuff, like narcotics, alcohol and pornography. And also those who suffer the effects of addiction to less obviously dangerous things, like wealth and power, luxury and popularity, technology and work. As well as innocent lives torn apart by distant wars, or unjustly excluded from the benefits of economic growth, or tragically scarred by domestic abuse. And even Mother Earth herself, so ruthlessly exploited by corporate greed…

It has been said, by those who knew her, that Amy Winehouse saw the song Rehab as her own cry for help. If this is true, then could the Exaltation of the Holy Cross be God’s loving response? Not just to Amy, but to all who require and yet resist rehab? Sisters and brothers, how might we help one another better receive and live out of the power of this merciful and tender response today?