Commentary by a
Common Terry
Check out this week's article by Terry Newton below and be sure to check at the bottom of the page for past articles.
Commentary by a
So what happened next? (part 2)
March 29, 2026
I’ve had to wait for something, sometimes for a long time (at least it seemed like a long time). The anticipation and the excitement (or fear) can be intense.
Put a wedding date out there and let the fun begin! We’re counting days, hours, minutes. It seems forever away...until it isn’t.
When we’re kids, it’s the next birthday or Christmas. It’s the next grade or the next summer. It’s wanting to get a driver’s license and wanting to get past high school graduation. It’s the big game that can’t get here soon enough and the big date that you didn’t believe would ever happen.
The flipside? It’s the root canal at the dentist or the tests to figure out some kind of potential health problem. It’s being told, “Wait until your dad gets home,” or knowing there’s trouble coming tomorrow for something you did yesterday. The waiting can be torture.
Waiting can bring us close to uncontrolled shivers of excitement or indescribable waves of misery and dread. It depends on what we’re waiting for, how long we’ve been waiting, and the answer to the inevitable question, “What’s in it for me?”
But there’s waiting...and then there’s waiting. There’s a wait that can go for so long and be so elusive that its fulfillment becomes about as realistic as being able to grab the smoke from a smoldering fireplace. It’s been so evasive and the promise of its arrival has gone undelivered for so long that it’s more of a fairy tale than a hope.
Did the Jews feel this way? They waited for the Messiah for so long! The promised Deliverer had not been a fulfilled delivered promise. Anticipatory hope became less-than-enthusiastic reminders that became wishful thinking that became, well, maybe a roll of the eyes and a dismissive, “Shyihiye!” That’s a Hebrew way of saying, “Whatever!”
But as Passover week approached the nation nearly two thousand years ago, there was a change floating in the air. Something that you could nearly feel and it all had to do with Him. The Jews who traveled to Jerusalem that week kept an eye on the landscape outside the walls and checked everyone who came in through the city gate. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That He will not come to the feast at all?” (John 11:56)
The next verse in John’s gospel showed that while many were exhilarated by the idea of the amazing Rabbi from Nazareth showing up, the leaders were not. They planned, as soon as they received word he had arrived, to arrest Him.
It seemed the people, the nation, and the land itself were waiting for His arrival. They just knew that their Salvation would be coming on the sandaled feet of Jesus and He did not disappoint. He arrived on a donkey which was not a symbol of embarrassment, but a way of arrival for someone important coming in peace. It has been called Palm Sunday throughout the ages as if people calmly laid their palm branches and coats on the ground as he passed.
I don’t think so.
It wasn’t entirely chaos, but it was close to group hysteria as he entered the city. Could it be? The wait is over? Is it the Messiah?
HOSANNA! Oh, save! Save now! It’s a word that was transliterated from the Hebrew to the Greek. From “hoshiana” to “Hosanna” and then transliterated from the Greek to our English language. A brand-new word! A wonderful word.
Shouted! Screamed! Over and over! Matthew (who had a front row seat) wrote that the “...whole city was stirred up.” (Matthew 21:10) Everyone wondered who just arrived. It was Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. The response was so massive that the Pharisees, terrified of both His arrival and the crowds, said, “Look, the whole world has gone after Him.” (John 12:19)
The problem? These people wanted the Messiah on their terms, not His. By the end of the week, the same city would demand His execution. He would have to be rejected one more time before finally becoming the true Messiah. His way. His time. His plan.
We wait for God. We anticipate God. We can hardly stand the delay to see God do what we know He should do.
He will. And it will be His way in His time.
Put a wedding date out there and let the fun begin! We’re counting days, hours, minutes. It seems forever away...until it isn’t.
When we’re kids, it’s the next birthday or Christmas. It’s the next grade or the next summer. It’s wanting to get a driver’s license and wanting to get past high school graduation. It’s the big game that can’t get here soon enough and the big date that you didn’t believe would ever happen.
The flipside? It’s the root canal at the dentist or the tests to figure out some kind of potential health problem. It’s being told, “Wait until your dad gets home,” or knowing there’s trouble coming tomorrow for something you did yesterday. The waiting can be torture.
Waiting can bring us close to uncontrolled shivers of excitement or indescribable waves of misery and dread. It depends on what we’re waiting for, how long we’ve been waiting, and the answer to the inevitable question, “What’s in it for me?”
But there’s waiting...and then there’s waiting. There’s a wait that can go for so long and be so elusive that its fulfillment becomes about as realistic as being able to grab the smoke from a smoldering fireplace. It’s been so evasive and the promise of its arrival has gone undelivered for so long that it’s more of a fairy tale than a hope.
Did the Jews feel this way? They waited for the Messiah for so long! The promised Deliverer had not been a fulfilled delivered promise. Anticipatory hope became less-than-enthusiastic reminders that became wishful thinking that became, well, maybe a roll of the eyes and a dismissive, “Shyihiye!” That’s a Hebrew way of saying, “Whatever!”
But as Passover week approached the nation nearly two thousand years ago, there was a change floating in the air. Something that you could nearly feel and it all had to do with Him. The Jews who traveled to Jerusalem that week kept an eye on the landscape outside the walls and checked everyone who came in through the city gate. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That He will not come to the feast at all?” (John 11:56)
The next verse in John’s gospel showed that while many were exhilarated by the idea of the amazing Rabbi from Nazareth showing up, the leaders were not. They planned, as soon as they received word he had arrived, to arrest Him.
It seemed the people, the nation, and the land itself were waiting for His arrival. They just knew that their Salvation would be coming on the sandaled feet of Jesus and He did not disappoint. He arrived on a donkey which was not a symbol of embarrassment, but a way of arrival for someone important coming in peace. It has been called Palm Sunday throughout the ages as if people calmly laid their palm branches and coats on the ground as he passed.
I don’t think so.
It wasn’t entirely chaos, but it was close to group hysteria as he entered the city. Could it be? The wait is over? Is it the Messiah?
HOSANNA! Oh, save! Save now! It’s a word that was transliterated from the Hebrew to the Greek. From “hoshiana” to “Hosanna” and then transliterated from the Greek to our English language. A brand-new word! A wonderful word.
Shouted! Screamed! Over and over! Matthew (who had a front row seat) wrote that the “...whole city was stirred up.” (Matthew 21:10) Everyone wondered who just arrived. It was Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. The response was so massive that the Pharisees, terrified of both His arrival and the crowds, said, “Look, the whole world has gone after Him.” (John 12:19)
The problem? These people wanted the Messiah on their terms, not His. By the end of the week, the same city would demand His execution. He would have to be rejected one more time before finally becoming the true Messiah. His way. His time. His plan.
We wait for God. We anticipate God. We can hardly stand the delay to see God do what we know He should do.
He will. And it will be His way in His time.