“Feed My Young Lambs”
AFTER his resurrection Jesus appeared to certain of his apostles on the shore of the sea of Tiberias. At that time Jesus commanded Peter, “Feed my young lambs.” And just before his ascension into heaven Jesus commanded Peter, and the other apostles with him, “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you.”—John 21:15; Matt. 28:19, 20, NW.
One of the various ways in which Jehovah’s witnesses today follow in the footsteps of Christ Jesus and imitate the example set by the apostles and obey the above commands is by calling back on the persons with whom they have left literature while going from house to house. That such activity does indeed result in feeding the young lambs of Christ Jesus is apparent from the following experience.
A witness for Jehovah was going from door to door in a certain town in Germany and came to a Catholic rest home. A young nun answered the door and, after listening very attentively to her testimony, accepted a copy of the Watchtower magazine and agreed to have the visitor call back in two weeks. However, a day or two later, the witness happened to meet the nun on the street in town. With considerable excitement the nun told of how the mother superior had found the copy of The Watchtower and was very angry. She warned the witness not to return because the mother superior would be sure to throw her out.
But when two weeks had rolled around the witness reasoned with herself that it still was her responsibility before Jehovah as one of his witnesses to keep her promise and make that call. So she made the call, and who should answer the door but the mother superior herself, who asked: “Are you the woman that left that Watchtower here last week?” Expecting the worst the witness braced herself and calmly answered, “Yes, I am that woman.” “Won’t you step inside?” the mother superior then asked.
The witness followed her to an inner room where she found six other nuns seated. Then the mother superior said: “We have all read The Watchtower very carefully and have decided that we want you to teach us more about the Bible; will you?” A study was started then and there.
After the study had gone on for about a month or two a priest came to the rest home to recuperate from an illness. By this time the library of the rest home contained some books of Jehovah’s witnesses and several copies of The Watchtower. Observing that the priest was interested in these publications he was asked to join the Bible studies, which he readily did. After some time he returned to his parish with the request that he be supplied with copies of The Watchtower. However, before long he wrote that it was no longer necessary to send these, as he had come in contact with Jehovah’s witnesses in his own community. Soon the priest shed his clerical garb and became a farmer and witness for Jehovah.
He wrote the nuns about this and extended to them the invitation to come and work for him on his farm. Two of them accepted the invitation, the rest preferring to remain at the rest home for the time being. When inquiry was made by her overseers whether the mother superior wanted replacements for the two that had left, she replied: “No, there really was not enough work for so many.” She was not taking any chances on having their Bible study interfered with.
Shortly after this a Protestant pastor and his wife came to this rest home looking for accommodations. The mother superior tried to discourage them from staying and had almost succeeded when the pastor surprised her by inquiring if she happened to know of any Jehovah’s witnesses in town. “Why yes,” she answered, “in fact one of them comes here quite frequently.” Curious and surprised, the pastor asked, “What? and do they work for you?” “No, not exactly,” she replied, “this witness comes here to teach us about God’s Word, the Bible.”
At this the pastor’s face lit up and he said: “Well then, this is the right place after all for me and my wife. You see, we met some of Jehovah’s witnesses in England, and so are very much interested in learning more about Jehovah and his Word, too.” So they also joined in the study during the time of their stay at the rest home.
Yes, calling back on persons who have manifested interest in God’s Word is one of the effective means Jehovah’s witnesses are using to feed the young lambs of their Right Shepherd, Christ Jesus.