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Gospel: Matthew 13: 44-46
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Arthur Brooks is a Catholic professor who teaches an elective, “Leadership & Happiness,” at Harvard Business School. This is currently the most popular class on campus with a waiting list of over 400 students!
Brooks claims that all of his students are right-brained, intelligent, high-achievers who have a world of possibilities before them, yet many struggle with feeling unhappy or depressed… and they want to better understand why.
While there can be many factors underlying these feelings, Brooks says that one trap any human being can fall into – not just students at Harvard – is what he calls the “arrival fallacy.”
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The “arrival fallacy” is the belief that achieving a long-term, specific goal will make us happy. Yet when we do, the feeling is ultimately short-lived.
Consider my favorite golfer, who’s currently #1 in the world, Scottie Scheffler.
After winning a major golf tournament last year, he admitted that the happiness he felt from all of his worldly success was short lived. In fact, sometimes the euphoria of winning was gone in a matter of minutes!
“You get there,” he said to reporters after raising his trophy and receiving a seven-figure payout, “you get to No. 1 in the world, and you’re like, ‘What’s the point?’ … Does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart?”
“Absolutely not.”
Standing on top of the world, Scheffler reminded us that we all need more than worldly success in order to be happy.
It’s not just him.
Studies have shown that a majority of Olympic gold medalists suffer from clinical depression in the three months after winning their gold medal. Silver medalists suffer even more.
I wonder if this will also be true for players who just competed in the World Cup, even the champions.
You get to #1 in the world…and what’s the point?
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Why is winning on the world stage or receiving a seven-figure payout not enough to make us happy?
Too often people succumb to the arrival fallacy, the belief that more money, more power, more pleasure, or more success will satisfy us. But it doesn’t.
According Arthur Brooks, the path to happiness is a bit more complex.
He identifies six different behaviors that happy people practice, each being like a tool leading us to closer to the one thing that is so precious, so immensely valuable that we’d give everything else away to find it.
Happy people ask deep questions. They fall in love. They look upward. They’re spiritual or philosophical. They find a calling in their work. They seek beauty in nature, art, and music. And they’re not afraid of suffering.
Each of these practices is like a tool leading us closer to discovering that treasure buried in the field or the pearl of great price, God.
As Saint Augustine, reaching the point of surrender after his own long, storied search for happiness, once said, “You have made us for yourself, O LORD, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”
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This is what Jesus is saying about the person in today’s Gospel who discovers the treasure buried in the field; he is changed forever. “Out of joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
This is not an act of martyrdom; nor is it a decision driven by reluctance, grief, or despair. It’s a free decision, motivated entirely by joy!
Such is the case when a soul encounters Christ.
When we are fed by his heart wisdom, when we experience his mercy and peace, when we feel the weight of life’s burdens lifted from our shoulders, when we discover our God-given purpose, we realize that nothing else can satisfy our hungry hearts.
As a result, Christians often begin re-prioritizing their worldly goals and possessions, dropping them to number two, three, or even lower on their list of importance, because we see just how empty worldly pursuits – or the arrival fallacy – can be.
Think of Scottie Scheffler. “You get to No. 1 in the world, and you’re like, ‘What’s the point?’ … Does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart?”
“Absolutely not.”
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What am I searching for in life? What is the treasure buried in the field or the pearl of great price?
Is it growth in my career? Image? Success? Worldly things?
Or is it Jesus?
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Happiness may seem elusive.
But we know where to find it.
It’s the real treasure buried in the field, the pearl of great price.
As the prophet Jeremiah joyfully proclaimed, “When I found your words I devoured them. They became my joy and the happiness of my heart, because I bore your name, O LORD, God of hosts.”
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Image credits: (1) Ardmore Institute of Health (2) PGA Tour (3) In Touch Ministries