“Anointed One” is translated as “Messiah” in Hebrew and “Christ” in Greek. Since the New Testament is written in Greek, “Christ” is almost always the term used. However, Jesus and his apostles primarily spoke in Hebrew (or the related language Aramaic) so they would have used the term “Messiah.” You can see this in action in John 1:41 and 4:25, where John explains that the term “Christ” is the same as “Messiah.”
The terms “Messiah” would have probably been the term used until about 50 AD when virtually all Christians were Jews who spoke Hebrew. From about 50 AD to 70 AD, the term “Messiah” would have been used by the Jewish Christians and the term “Christ” would have been used by the Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians. During that time period, the terms would have been synonymous. That is also the time period when virtually all of the New Testament was written in Greek, except for the books by John.
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By the time of Jesus, many of the Jews were expecting a Messiah to come. There were varying opinions of who the Messiah would be and what he would do. The differences primarily arose because of different choices of Old Testament scriptures used.
Some of the most common expectations of Messiah were: he would be a king who would establish a Davidic kingdom, overthrow the Romans, be a descendant of David, be a prophet like Moses, be a great teacher, and do miracles. From this brief list, you can see why the people were suspicious that Jesus might be the Messiah.
Let’s pick up the story in John 12. It starts with explaining that Jesus was in Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus whom Jesus had raised from the dead. John 12:1-11 tells of the anointing of Jesus by Mary. John 12:12-19 tells of the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. It has many overtones that the people think Jesus might very well be Messiah. John 12:20-33 tells of Jesus predicting his crucifixion.
