Read an Excerpt from “The Unsung Heroes of Easter”
The Unsung Heroes of EasterNeither the Bible nor history tells us much about Pilate’s wife. Church tradition indicates that her name was Claudia Procula, and that she later became a follower of Christ. The Greek Orthodox Church regards her as a saint. Other than that, her page in history is blank, but we do have this one verse in Matthew that shows us how her story intersected with the story of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 27:19 says, “When he (that is, Pilate) was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.”
Scientists tell us that our minds generate dreams based on events in daily life. Our dreams are also affected by what we eat and drink before we go to sleep. While most dreams of this nature are meaningless, the Bible tells us that God sometimes sends people dreams that they should pay attention to. Pilate’s wife, whom we will refer to as Claudia for the purposes of this chapter, experiences one of these kinds of dreams — a dream so terrible and dreadful that it caused anxiety or mental torment or anguish. It was a nightmare from Heaven.
It is interesting that Matthew’s Gospel begins and ends with dreams. What is of particular interest is the dreams that were sent to Gentiles: at the beginning of this Gospel, God saves the Wise Men from Herod’s wrath by sending them a dream with a warning to escape, and at the end of this Gospel, God sends a dream to Pilate’s wife which prompts her to send a warning to Pilate so that her husband would not condemn an innocent man.
We do not know the contents of Claudia’s dream. Spurgeon and other theologians have speculated that Claudia may have dreamed of one of three things. Perhaps she saw Jesus Christ suffering on the cross. Surely, the blood streaming down His body, His anguished cries, and the crown of thorns cruelly crushed atop His head would have vexed this woman’s heart. Surely it would have moved her to send a message to Pilate to have nothing to do with this “just Man.”
Perhaps she saw Christ seated in all His glory at the Great White Throne Judgment and she and her husband standing there before Him. The same One whom Pilate had judged was about to judge him and decree his eternal fate. Certainly that would have moved her greatly.
Or, perhaps, and most terribly of all, she saw her husband being tormented by flames in the dark pit that knows no bottom. Such a terrible dream — a nightmare from Heaven — would have moved her to plead with her husband for the innocent Christ to be left alone.
These are just the ideas that some have proposed down through the centuries regarding what Pilate’s wife may have dreamed about on that day when Jesus was sentenced to die. But, whatever the contents of her dream, God thought it necessary for one of the Gospel writers to include it in his account of the events of Holy Week. I believe there are three messages that are given to us through this simple, one-verse record.
