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This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)
It’s sometimes said that “misery loves company.” Negatively understood, it may mean that miserable people like to bring other people down to their level—that misery doesn’t just want any kind of company, but only miserable company. Perhaps misery wants company in this way because we compare ourselves to others. We feel like we’re in competition with them, like joy is a scarce resource, and if someone else has more of it, then that must mean there’s less left over for me. But in another sense, in a positive sense, “misery loves company” may mean that broken people crave a confederation to know they’re not alone, and that humbled people graciously welcome the broken because they know what it’s like. They’ve been there.
That’s the tone I hear in Peter’s voice. He’s been given a platform to speak to his people. He knows they’ve failed miserably. They all remember what happened when they had gathered in Jerusalem just a few months earlier at Passover. An innocent Man, a good Man, a holy Man, a Man of the people who’d become famous for healing and feeding people, teaching, and forgiving them, a Man of courage who’d confronted religious leaders for their hypocrisy—that Man had been murdered, killed on a cross in a circus of jealous power games. And this crowd had called out for His blood, or else stood by and watched it happen. And Peter had been there. Having denied Jesus himself, he knew he was no better. So, when he confronted them, when he cut them to the heart with the devastating truth of their sin, he also called them “brothers” (Acts 2:29a). He met them with God’s mercy. He commiserated with them.
As baptized followers of Jesus, we do this for others because Christ first met us in our misery. He commiserated with us. The verb co-(m)miserate, comes from two Latin words: “co” which means together, and “miserere,” which means, “to show mercy.” In Christ, the hallmark of Christian company is mutually shared mercy. Christ’s compassion for the screw-ups, His welcome to the broken, His grace for the hopeless—that’s been the core and common Christian experience from the beginning. It’s what binds us together—not just shared misery, but shared astonishment at God’s mercy. Yes, misery loves company, but mercy simply loves, even the miserable.
WE PRAY: Dear Jesus, thank You for making me a part of this great and growing confederation of the humbled. Help us to meet others in Your mercy. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.
Reflection Questions:
- When have you seen this truth, that misery loves company, whether positively or negatively?
- When has a mistake or failure from your past helped you meet someone with mercy?
- Which part of Micah 6:8 has been hardest for you lately: to “do justly,” to “love mercy,” or to “walk humbly” with your God? Why?
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