They tell him that Pilate has promised the Jews the release of one prisoner that day, and that the Jews have chosen him instead of one Jesus of Nazareth, who was condemned to be crucified.
Now the poor man begins to weep. This breaks his heart. He knows this Jesus. He has seen Him perform some of His miracles. He was in the crowd, picking pockets, when Jesus fed the five thousand hungry people.
“What! That just man to die! And I—a thief, a highwayman, a murderer—to go free!”
And in the midst of his joy at his own release his heart breaks at the thought that his life is saved at such a cost.
BARTIMEUS AND ZACCHÆUS.
In the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke you will find Christ was going into Jericho, and as He drew near the gates of the city there was a poor blind man who sat by the wayside, begging people to give him a farthing, and crying out: “Have mercy on a poor blind man!”
This blind beggar met a man who said to him: “I have good news to tell you, Bartimeus.”
“What is it?” asked the beggar.
“There is a man of Israel who can give you sight.”