Ep 98 - The Treasure Worth Everything

Why do so many people spend their lives chasing happiness, only to find themselves unfulfilled? Reflecting on Jesus' parable of the hidden treasure, this episode explores the difference between pursuing happiness and discovering the treasure God has prepared for each of us. Drawing on the wisdom of King Solomon, the insights of St. Ignatius of Loyola, and Jesus' teaching, Fr. Isaac shows that joy is not life's ultimate goal—it is the fruit of finding and embracing God's unique call. When we discover the treasure worth everything, sacrifice no longer feels like a loss, but a joyful response to something infinitely greater.

Transcript

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Hello, and welcome to episode 98 of Brother from Another Father as we celebrate the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In 2005, the sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Denton published a groundbreaking study of the religious beliefs of American teenagers. While the majority of these teenagers would have been nominally Christian, these sociologists discovered that their beliefs did not correspond exactly with the heart of Christian doctrines. They had a form of diluted Christianity. So diluted and so cosmopolitan, in fact, that these sociologists had to invent a new name for the religious beliefs of these American teenagers. They called it moralistic therapeutic deism, or MTD for short. And they summarized these religious beliefs of American teenagers into four basic tenets. Number one, a God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth. Number two, God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and as taught by most world religions. Number three, the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about yourself. Number four, God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem. And number five, good people go to heaven when they die. Now, you might hear this list of five beliefs and say to yourselves, yes, that sounds about right, except for the fourth tenet, because God should actually be involved in people's lives even when they're not in trouble. But there is actually something missing from this list. What is missing from this list is that there is no treasure. Now you might say that in moral therapeutic deism, the treasure is happiness. And I think that this is the mistake that many people make, not just American teenagers, by the way. I think that there are many Christians, sadly, whose beliefs line up more with those of moralistic therapeutic deism than with those of Christianity. For moralistic therapeutic deism commits a fundamental error, thinking that the central goal of life is happiness. Both our first reading today and our gospel illustrate the falsity of this belief. In our first reading, it is important to note that Solomon does not ask God for happiness, or riches, or for a long life for that matter. He knows that this is not where the real treasure of life lies. Instead, he asks for the gift of wisdom, for the gift of being able to discern the right course of action so that he might fulfil his calling to be a king in a way that will be pleasing to God and beneficial to his subjects. Solomon has realized that the true treasure in life is to live his vocation in a way pleasing to God. In order to do this, he asks for the gift of wisdom. But it is the gospel that most of all illustrates the falsity of moralistic therapeutic deism. The treasure that we are to search for is not happiness. Rather, our gospel tells us that happiness comes as a byproduct of having found our treasure in life. In the parable that Jesus tells us in today's gospel, the man only is filled with joy once he finds the treasure. And it is this joy that provides him with the motivation to commit his whole life, to commit all his possessions to taking hold of this treasure. This parable teaches us that happiness only comes as a byproduct of doing God's will. The problem with moralistic therapeutic deism is that it is too flat because strangely enough, our own happiness is not a sufficient motivator to make us change our lives. And that's why many people actually live quite sad lives. Their own happiness is not enough of a motivator to change their lives so that they become happy. We see this time and time again in people who make bad decisions that ultimately undermine their own happiness. Our own happiness is not that much of a journey. In fact, it is a cul de sac. It is a dead end. The hedonistic lifestyle may initially seem like a goal to achieve, but it plateaus out pretty quickly. This is illustrated in a scene from a film that I watched recently. It was of a middle-aged man who was living the dream life on the island of Ebisa, the capital of nightclubbing. In this scene, he catches up with a blast from a plast, a friend who he had seen last 20 years ago, when he was in the prime of his life. This friend asks him why he seems so sad now, and his response to her is very revealing. He says to her, If you live like a god when you're 20, how can you be happy after that? You've had it all. Love, girls, the perfect life. After that, how can you not be sad? This man's life had essentially started off as a whirlwind ascent of Mount Hedonism. But very quickly after that, it flatlines, because his treasure was too small. His treasure wasn't enough to occupy a lifetime. His treasure was just the party scene, happiness, having a good time with friends, dancing the night away. But that's not enough to fill a life. And so if you make happiness, joy your own goal in life, you'll achieve it pretty quickly. It's pretty easy to come by shallow happiness and joy. You can find it in a night out on the town. But that doesn't last. It's not enough to fill a life. And it's not enough to make a real effort for, because this goal is too easily attainable. And so if that's the goal of your life, your life often flatlines after that. It actually starts descending and you descend into depression and sadness. Which explains why so many Hollywood A-list celebrities end up committing suicide or end up with depression, or end up chasing after A-list drugs that they overdose with. Like in the example of Matthew Perry. Next Friday, we will celebrate the feast day of St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit Order. St. Ignatius knew what it was to set his sights too low. His first dream of winning the heart of the princess he was in love with by covering himself with military glory only left him feeling empty and dry. But when he started dreaming about doing great deeds for God, he found himself filled with joy and a profound peace. He had found his treasure, quite by accident, just like the man in the parable. He stumbled upon it while he was on his sickbed in the castle of Loyola, recovering from a broken leg. But once he found it, Saint Ignatius knew that he had to do all in his power to take hold of this treasure he had found. Like the man in the parable, he realized that this treasure was so valuable that he had to sacrifice everything he had in order to take hold of this prize. In first century Palestine, finding buried treasure was quite a common occurrence. This was because it was a region characterized by great political instability, with people often having to flee their homes because of war and fighting. As they left their homes, they would bury their valuables in the fields, thinking that they would be able to come back after the warhead was over and reclaim their treasure. But often this did not happen. They were not able to come back, and the treasure remained buried. And so people digging around in the ground would often stumble upon buried treasure. It was such a common occurrence that there were a set of rules that governed finding treasure. Normally the treasure did not belong to the finder, but rather to the owner on whose land that treasure was buried. This is why, in the parable, the man must go and sell everything he has in order to buy the field in which he found the treasure. In a similar way, Saint Ignatius knew that what he had stumbled upon was something worth giving up everything for, which is why he stripped himself of his fine clothes, left his family castle, and laid his sword at the shrine of the Virgin Mary, and dedicated himself henceforward to being a soldier for Christ. What these two parables teach us together with the life of Saint Ignatius is that the amount you are prepared to sacrifice is directly proportional to the value of your treasure. If you have a small treasure, you will only be prepared to sacrifice very little. But if you have found an exquisite, extremely valuable treasure, you will be willing to sacrifice everything for it. It seems to me as I reflect on these two parables that our treasure is the unique call that each one of us have received from God. Unlike the calls that St. Ignatius and the man in the parable received, our call may not necessarily demand that we sacrifice everything and leave our current lives behind. It is the grace of wisdom that Solomon prayed for that we need in order to discern what our treasure is and the sacrifices we need to make in order to take hold of it. As the letter of the Ephesians says in chapter 1, verse 18, may the Lord enlighten the eyes of your mind, so that you may see what hope God's call holds for you, and how rich is the glory of the heritage God offers to God's holy people. God bless, and have a good Sunday.