“Master, the one you love is ill” Strange greeting?

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MarthaSo

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Hi everybody,
In today’s reading I read this passage and thought what a strange way to say someone is sick. Jesus loved Lazarus and his sisters too. I just wonder if anyone else thinks this is a strange way to inform Jesus.Why wouldn’t they just say “Master, Lazarus is sick”? Is it a translation that i’m misunderstanding or is that just how they spoke back then.
Why wouldn’t Martha just say her brother was sick or just Lazarus name. Just wondering if anyone ever addressed this question anywhere. thank you
 
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Giving the context and Jesus’s familiarity and friendship with their family, I see nothing particularly strange about the greeting.
 
Ok so it was the language being archaic.
That’s what I didn’t understand.
 
Maybe that’s how they said best friends back in the day. today we might say, homie, bro, besties, dude, BFF.

It just might be the way they greeted each other back in the days… and like @(name removed by moderator) said, the sisters might have been a little upset with, Jesus. They were probably being sarcastic and hurtful when they said “Master, the one you love is ill”. Like You love him so much why didn’t you know… why weren’t you there.

Now a days we might say … "yea you two are such BFF’s, well your BFF is sick.

Or they might have said it like that to get Jesus attention to how serious the situation was, they wanted Him to act quickly by reminding Jesus how much He loved their brother. They could have been trying to be pleading desperately for His help by saying " “Master, the one you love is ill”.

Now a days we might say … “your homie is ill, he needs you”
 
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Yeah. It seems so many folks here understood it was context except me. I still don’t understand too well but I guess from the answers here its saying “The one you love is ill/here/at the store” was common language.
I’ll accept it from you all that know better than I.
Thank you.
 
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Thanks for offering all these different types of explanations. I appreciate the thoughtfulness.
 
The part of this reading I find difficult to understand; is just before Jesus got to the tomb; it says -

And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”

Jesus knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, what was there to be sad about, why did Jesus weep?
 
I recently had to say “Father, your best friend has died”.

Remember, we are reading translations. Some phrases translate dynamically instead of literally.
 
This is what I was asking pretty much, thank you. That makes sense.
 
EricPH said:
Jesus knew he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, what was there to be sad about, why did Jesus weep?
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I think he was empathizing more with the grief of Lazarus’ sisters and other mourners. Or he might have wept over humanities fallen state where natural death was warranted.
 
Don’t you sometimes shed a tear when something miraculous, amazing, extraordinary happens.

Like when a baby is born or takes their first step.

Like when someone who’s been sick in bed, suddenly feels well enough to get up.

Like when you worked so hard to stick that landing then win the Gold Medal for the American in the Olympics… or hit that GOAL!!!

People cry for a lot of reasons, Jesus was human at the time, he had human emotions. He would laugh, cry, scream, or do a somersault while walking into town for no reason other then because He can. Okay maybe He didn’t do the last one, but I bet He could if He wanted too. 😉
 
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annad347 said:
Don’t you sometimes shed a tear when something miraculous, amazing, extraordinary happens.

Like when a baby is born or takes their first step.
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I have tried to understand this as you say, but it does not sound right. John seems to describe Mary’s weeping in sorrow in the same way as Jesus when he wept. Had Jesus being crying tears of joy, then I believe this would have been described in some other way.

I think Jesus wept at the lack of faith. The sisters and the Jews had said that if Jesus had been there earlier, he could have healed Lazarus. But they did not seem to have faith that Jesus could raise the dead.

Earlier in the Gospel Jesus says,

“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

“Your brother will rise.”

It seems that throughout the ministry of Jesus, he just kept pushing the boundary of faith. On the cross it was said; he healed others, let him save himself.
 
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