Did Jesus Redeem Mankind? — Page 227
? 220 quite a number of times that the Messiah may be let off on one ground or the other. Of the devices he resorted to in this behalf, one was this: It was on Friday when the Messiah appeared before him and the Sabbath Day, the holy festival day of Jews, fell on the morrow. The same day was a special holiday when the Roman State used to set at liberty a prisoner to please the Jews so that they should feel that the State held religion in esteem and thought particularly well of their religion. Considering that on account of this festival, one or the other prisoner must be set free, Pilate tried to set the Messiah free. But the Jews refused to agree to the proposal and would rather get a thief to be set at liberty insisting that the Messiah should not be freed (Matthew 27:21-22). There occur many disparities in the New Testament in this regard and there is no use going into these at the moment. In any case, they would not let the Messiah be set at liberty. While Pilate was yet pursuing his endeavours to release the Messiah on his personal initiative, a messenger came to his court saying that he had been sent by his wife. As Pilate rose to hear him, the messenger told him that his wife had sent him with the word that she had no sleep last night as the angel warned her again and again that this man was innocent and should not be persecuted, otherwise they would die. When Pilate heard this, he made a further attempt to persuade the Jews to agree that the Messiah should be released. But they were adamant.