Why are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints asked to minister to one another? The short answer is: Because it’s a covenantal responsibility.
The resurrected Lord appeared to the ancient apostles on the shore of the Sea of Galilee and miraculously helped them fill their nets after an unsuccessful night of fishing. Later that day, while they were eating some of their catch, Jesus asked Peter, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?”
Peter may have been a little surprised by the question, but he responded, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.”
Jesus then responded, “Feed my lambs.”
Then immediately Jesus asked him a second time, ”Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” to which Peter again answered affirmatively. The Lord again commanded him, “Feed my Sheep.”
But when Jesus asked him the exact same question a third time, John tells us that Peter “was grieved.” It’s possible that Peter may have started to worry that his recent denial of the Savior (coincidentally also three times) may have made Jesus doubt his commitment to the cause. Peter responded emphatically, relying on the Savior’s omniscience, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.”
Jesus then commanded him a third time, “Feed My sheep.” (John 21:15-17)
Nowhere else in the scriptures does the Savior repeat a commandment three times in a row like he did to Peter. Why would He do that? Why was this commandment so important? One answer may be that this was His final opportunity to drive home the point that this was now Peter’s responsibility. “I am leaving these new members in your care. Please nourish them. Please protect them. Please bless them. Please teach them. Please help them find their way home.”
From Adam down to this last dispensation, we have been asked to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. More recently the Lord made this commandment much more clear when He spelled out the duties of priesthood holders in Section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants. He told us to do the following:
- Teach, expound, exhort, baptize, and watch over the church;
- Visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties.
- Watch over the Church always, and be with and strengthen them;
- See that there is no iniquity in the Church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking;
- See that the Church meets together often, and also see that all the members do their duty. (Doctrine & Covenants 20: 47-51)
That commandment and the one given to Peter both require action, visits and a deep knowledge of every individual in each of the families that we minister to. And more importantly, neither of those commandments have been repealed or withdrawn since they were given. In fact the Lord has doubled down recently when He revealed to our modern day prophet, President Russel M. Nelson, that we would graduate from Home and Visiting Teaching and “implement a newer, holier approach to caring for and ministering to others.” And President Jeffrey R. Holland said that with these adjustments, the Good Shepherd now “wants more care and concern, not less.”
President Ezra Taft Benson said of Home Teaching (different name, same commandment), “Brethren, home [ministering] is not just another program. It is the priesthood way of watching over the Saints and accomplishing the mission of the Church. Home [ministering] is not just an assignment. It is a sacred calling. Home [ministering] is not to be undertaken casually. A home [ministering] call is to be accepted as if extended to you personally by the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater Church calling than that of a home [minister]. There is no greater Church service rendered to our Father in Heaven’s children than the service rendered by a humble, dedicated, committed home [minister].”
The mandate to care for one another is a longstanding one, but more importantly, as mentioned before, we have made a covenant to do it.
You might ask, When did I make that specific covenant?
The answer is, At your baptism and in your Temple Endowment.
In the Book of Mormon, when Alma and his little group of refugees were at the Waters of Mormon, Alma challenged the people to get baptized, but only if they were willing to commit to do following four things:
- Bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;
- Mourn with those that mourn;
- Comfort those that stand in need of comfort;
- Stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death.
In the Temple we make four more related covenants. First, when we make the covenant to obey the Law of Obedience, we make an oath to obey whatsoever commandment the Lord sees fit to ask of us. Second, we commit to live the Law of Sacrifice, which means sacrificing to support the Lord’s work and repenting with a broken heart and contrite spirit. Third we covenant to keep the Law of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which specifically cites loving God and our neighbor. And lastly, we covenant to keep the Law of Consecration. In that covenant, we promise to consecrate all of our time, talents, gifts, and anything else the Lord requires of us for the building up of the Kingdom of God.
I will not drill down beyond this regarding covenants, but it is clear to those with “eyes to see, and ears to hear” that the covenants we make at baptism and in the temple direct us to serve God and His children. It could be said, we are commissioned to help Him accomplish His work and His glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal lives of our fellow man. We are His undershepherds, just like Peter was. We have the same mandate to feed His sheep. May we all have His Spirit to guide us in these eternity impacting roles.
