Long before we had a name for it, it existed.  Everyone who cares for others feels it keenly.  It grows in proportion to growing responsibilities, especially responsibilities for others.  No one is immune.  ‘Burnout’ describes a fire that burns itself out as it consumes all its fuel. 

While not a medical condition, it often leads to medical complications.  According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, burnout is defined as “physical, emotional or mental exhaustion, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance and negative attitudes towards oneself and others.”  Burnout often manifests as overwhelming physical, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion as well as compassion fatigue, a creeping callousness toward suffering due to an overload of caregiving.  Those suffering compassion fatigue may struggle to care about those they care for.

The Bible reveals that the great heroes of the faith struggled with it.  Moses struggled in the wilderness as the people relentlessly complained.  He cried out to the Lord,

“Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”  Numbers 11:11-15

Elijah struggled with it following the contest on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal.  Jezebel puts a price on his head.  And he runs for his life, crying out to God.

“It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers… I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” 1 Kings 19:4, 9-11

And the list continues.  Jeremiah wept.  Isaiah’s preaching only made Israel’s hearts more callous.  And John the Baptist, who once declared “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” asks from Herod’s prison, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Christians are not exempt from burnout.  Calvin and Spurgeon experienced deep depression.  Luther was accused of being neurotic.  And even today over 1,700 American pastors leave the ministry every year.  70% report suffering chronic depression and 80% believe that pastoral ministry has adversely affected their families.  Burnout is epidemic and extreme loneliness often characteristic.

But burnout is not an unexpected temptation. In the midst of controversy with the religious leaders, Jesus quoted Isaiah, “a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench.”  Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, “touched with the feeling of our infirmities,” and yet without sin.  No doubt he was tempted with compassion fatigue and burnout.  Especially when he attempted to find time for quiet rest and respite with his disciples from a hectic season of ministry.  And to grieve the death of John the Baptist.  Yet even in what should have been a remote, lonely place of rest, the crowds pressed upon him and his disciples with their endless afflictions, demon possessions, and spiritual ignorance.

Mark 6:30-34 records this picture for us.

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

Jesus had brought the Twelve apostles into the wilderness for rest.  But perhaps it was not the rest they had expected.  For what we read next is shocking.

And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.”  Mark 6:35-36

Jesus’ compassion for his disciples is no less than for the crowds.  And here we see him offer a deeper rest than the absence of labor.  A rest that no privation or pressure can deprive.  In the older translations, the language of Jesus call to the disciples here is, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.”  An old preacher once quipped, “if you don’t come apart, you’ll come apart.”  But how do we find rest when “many are coming and going and we have no leisure to even eat” or rest or recharge?  Just what does it mean to come apart with Jesus?  For indeed, if we do not learn to come apart, we will come apart.

Join us as we examine Mark 6:30-44 and consider the invitation of Jesus to find a rest that heals bruised reeds and fans smoldering wicks. We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join our livestream on YouTube.