Passion is a kind of waiting

Passion is a kind of waiting - waiting for what other
people are going to do. Jesus went to Jerusalem to
announce the good news to the people of that city. And
Jesus knew that he was going to put a choice before
them: "Will you be my disciple, or will you be my
executioner?" There is no middle ground here. Jesus went
to Jerusalem to put people in a situation where they had
to say "Yes" or "No." That is the great drama of Jesus'
passion: he had to wait upon how people were going to
respond. How would they come? To betray him or to follow
him? In a way, his agony is not simply the agony of
approaching death. It is also the agony of having to wait.
- Henri J. M. Nouwen, "A Spirituality of Waiting"