Misery loves company.  So does Hope.  

Misery loves company.  Do you know the origin of that phrase?  It dates back to “The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus,” a 16^th century play by Christopher Marlowe.  In the play the demon Mephastophilis is asked why Satan seeks to enlarge his kingdom.  He responds in Latin “Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris,” which translates into English as “It is a comfort to the unfortunate to have companions in woe.”

What is it about misery that it almost demands that others suffer with it – not in an effort to empathize or reduce the suffering, but rather to make others suffer.  It’s a weird way of going about things frankly.  In making others suffers, the one who is miserable doesn’t experience less misery.  Rather, they just expand the misery to others.  It’s almost as if the one who is miserable enjoys the misery – a type of self-inflicted pain designed to remind the miserable one about how worthless they are.  And in making others suffer, it shows that no one else is better off.  It’s a belief that keeps everyone down in the trash heap, dragging down everyone who attempts to escape, or anyone who knows that each person is of immense worth and value just for existing.  

I observe so much misery loves company on display in so many areas.  Social media is full of miserable people seeking ways to make others miserable.  You can see this miserableness in the comment section of so many posts – words designed to provoke anger, fear, fighting, distrust, and more.  Why though?  Do these feelings and emotions remind the person that they are alive, make them feel alive, give them an adrenaline rush, make them feel righteous?  I don’t know.  But we seem addicted to seeking out these comments that we claim to not like.  It’s a bad loop that feeds itself.  

Politics is full of miserable people.  I worked in politics for a time – working for elected officials and in campaigns.  Politics has some wonderful people in it – there are many people who get into politics because they want to make a positive impact in the world.  They want to improve lives, the planet, and more.  They are public servants who devote their lives to service.  And there are plenty of miserable people too – who seek nothing more than to spread their misery onto others through policies, regulations designed to make life more difficult, debates, and public attention. 

Misery resides in other spaces too.  I’ve seen it in churches, which seems odd on the surface.  But when religion is devoid of faith, mercy, grace, love, etc, then it is nothing more than just misery.  We have far too many Christians who need Jesus to encounter them, touch their hearts, and transform them.  Miserable Christians have a way of stopping churches from following Jesus through mission, protecting abusive systems, and sucking the life out of a congregation.  

The list of miserable people seems long and endless.

Yet, there is hope.  Hope sees reality for what it is.  Hope doesn’t sugarcoat reality.  It sees the horribleness around it.  It sees the pain and suffering of others.  It sees the destruction.  It sees the cruelty.  It sees the oppression.  It sees the violence.  It sees the devaluing and dehumanization that goes on.  

And it offers an invitation to a different way.  A way that pulls people out of the misery.  A way that is intent on ending suffering and pain.  A way that sees misery’s efforts to drag people down and instead it lifts them up.  

Hope is not lonely either.  It thrives in community.  It requires that people be seen for who they are, hears them.  It sees and hears the good and bad.  And it declares that we are not alone.  Hope goes into the midst of the pain and suffering and misery, and says you are not alone.  That you are never alone.  And that you are not destined to remain in the misery.  That there is a way out.  Hope has a future.  

And hope has a plan to move forward, to get out of the mud of misery.  It grabs us by the hand and pulls us up.  It is not content to let people wallow.  Hope raises people.  Hope clears our eyes to see the image of God and the value of people inherent in them.   

Misery loves company.  But only in the sense of dragging more people into the mire so that they too will suffer.  

Hope loves company too.  So that more people can be pulled out of the drowning pool of misery so they can thrive and live.