Now, if that had been the sum of Claudia’s life, she would have been a mere footnote in obscure history, but the thing that brought her just a little more attention was the dream she had one fine siesta around Passover in the year 33 A.D. She dreamed something about a Jewish rabbi who was behaving and speaking as though He was King of the Jews. Her one enigmatic and mysterious appearance in the Holy Bible has sparked lots of fiction and fantasy about her. With this being the case, it makes you wonder what type of relationship Pilate and his wife had. Could it have been that Pilate respected and admired his wife's judgement and intuition? Did her message help him see Jesus for who He really was? Did Pilate and his wife talk about Jesus and about her dream later on? If she did become a Christian later on, how did Pilate take that? Did he support her? Did he ever truly regret that he allowed Jesus to be crucified? Was she upset at him because he didn't do enough to stop the Jews? Pilate’s wife had that same moral courage that Esther had in the Old Testament. Of course, educated Roman women were often quite powerful figures behind the scenes, just like of Livia Drucilla's relationship with her husband Emperor Augustus (first Roman Emperor from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D.). Livia Drucilla was mother of the Emperor Tiberius, paternal grandmother of the Emperor Claudius, paternal great-grandmother of the Emperor Caligula, and maternal great-great-grandmother of the Emperor Nero. Nevertheless, it was very unusual for a woman to send counsel to her husband, especially when he was was sitting on the Judgment Seat before all the noble Romans and high ranking Jews in an important and high profile case. It was really quite brave of her to send such a message and she must have felt that what she had to say was very important and very urgent. Yet, it is even more unusual that her husband seems to have listened to her. Still, the fact that she sent him this message while he was in the midst of hearing an important case, shows their emotional closeness But, to me, two main question arise. First, who was Pontius Pilate? And second, why would she have such a dream within 12 hours of Jesus' crucifixion?
So, Pontius Pilate; who was he? Well, plainly put, he was the Roman Governor of Judea from 26 A.D. to 36 A.D. That was a pretty good tenure for a position that was generally given from one to three years. Pilate most likely became the Roman Governor due the status that he acquire after he married Claudia (coming from royalty and all). When the Jews fell into the hands of Roman regime, they still allowed them to practice their rituals. However, there was one small catch. They were not allowed to put anybody to death without Pilate's permission. Pilate's two main duties were to keep order in the country and to make sure that all imperial tax revenues were collected and sent to Rome. However, Pontius Pilate did not have a good reputation with the Jews. He was a true Roman and politician who did not like Jews. They described Pontius Pilate as a stubborn, inflexible, and cruel man who had no respect for the Jewish people. He used cruel and merciless punishments for the guilty (such as flogging). And yet, one special Friday; one arranged for a particular purpose, he came face to face with Jesus. And as The Gospel John is written: When Jesus said: "Everyone on the side of truth listens to me," Pilate walked right up to Him and said: "What is truth?" Now, it doesn't say what Jesus said to Pilate, but it had to be something exquisite, because as the Gospel goes, "he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, 'I find no basis for a charge against him.'" This man, who the Jews believed had a heart of stone, was not convinced that Jesus had done anything wrong. Between his wife telling him not to have anything to do with Jesus' death due to a nightmare she had the night before and whatever Jesus said about "truth," Pilate somewhere deep down believed that Jesus was an innocent man. Pilate even tried ways to have nothing to do with Jesus' death. To avoid convicting Him, Pilate tried to pawn Jesus off to King Herod Atipas (Luke 23:6-7). King Herod was hoping Jesus would perform a miracle just for him, but when He did not answer his questions, (after ridiculing Jesus) Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate, unwilling to pass judgement on Him (Luke 23:11). Luke made further reference to this involvement of King Herod along with Pilate in Jesus' execution by linking it with the prophecy about the Messianic King found in Psalm 2, as we can read in Luke's other book, Acts 4:24-28. This could explain why he counted this episode important. Then, Pilate had the crowd choose between Jesus and a notorious murder named: Barabbas to be released, but the High Priest chose to free Barabbas (Matthew 27:16-25, Mark 15:7-11, Luke 23:18-19, & John 18:39-40). After that, Pilate had Jesus flogged (Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, & John 19:1). This was probably because Pilate knew that by Roman law: "You could not be flogged and carry your cross to be crucified on the same day." However, despite Pilate's best efforts and intentions, he was pressured into ordering his death by the Pharisees and a disorderly crowd of spectators (John 19:12). Pilate washed his hands and reluctantly handed Him over to those who wanted to crucify Him (Matthew 27:24). Now, what happened to Pontius Pilate afterwords is hard to say. What we do know is that he was called back to Rome in disgrace in 36 A.D. for incompetence in his rule of Judea due to a .harsh suppressing of a Samaritan uprising. This could have been due to being "burnt out" from a difficult Roman political tenure for such a long period of time; mental exhaustion as a result of longtime stress. After all, Judea was a difficult, rebellious part of the Roman Empire, and Pilate's job was far from easy. Aulus Vittelius (the Governor of Syria at the time) brought serious accusations against Pilate, dismissed him, and sent him to Rome to vindicate himself before the Emperor Tiberius. However, Tiberius died before Pilate reached Rome and it was Caligula (the new Emperor) who judged him and condemned him to exile to Vienne in Gaul. Vivenne is an area in central France named after the Vienne River and Gaul was the Roman name for a region now covered by France, Belgium and Holland. Pontius Pilates name now disappears from the Gospel history. References to him, however, are found in Acts 3:13; 4:27; 13:28 and 1 Timothy 6:13. The stories range from him committing suicide during the reign of Caligula in 39 A.D. to him becoming a follower of the Apostle Paul alongside Claudia, became a saint in the Coptic Church, was baptized, and was even martyred. The latter is according to the Gospel of Nicodemus (a.k.a.: Acts of Pilate). Nevertheless, nobody knows the whole story. Still, even if Claudia was not a secret disciple of Jesus, there are stories of Claudia becoming a Christian. So, therefore, it is quite possible that (in his disgrace under Roman rule and gods) due to his wife's and even his soldiers' influence (such as Abenader, the Centurion-leader of the Roman Army, who is later know as St. Ctesiphon of Vergium - one of seven Christian clerics ordained in Rome by Peter and Paul, and sent to evangelize Spain), his experiences with a "miracle" and with his knowledge of Christianity (possibly through Claudia), that Pontius Pilate had a change of heart and became a Christian before he died. There must have been some indisputable knowledge known in the early Christian age (now forgotten) that led the Abyssinian Church, from what would be their thorough investigations of the time, to take the enormous contrary step of canonizing Pilate as a saint. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates Pilate and Claudia Procula together on June 25.
Now that we know about Pontius Pilate, what about Claudia Procula? As mentioned, in the New Testament, the only reference to Pilate's wife exists in a single sentence by Matthew. According to Matthew 27:19, she sent a message to her husband asking him not to condemn Jesus Christ to death: "While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: 'Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.'" Claudia obviously loved her stubborn husband or she would not have sent him the warning. And Pilate obviously valued his wife’s opinion and must have taken her dream seriously because he spent a great deal of effort trying not to have this Jesus of Nazareth crucified. But in end, he had to agree to it all. The name "Claudia" only appears once in the New Testament, in the 2 Timothy 4:21, where it says: "Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia send their greetings, and so all the other Christians." Apparently, Claudia was among the congregants of the Apostle Paul's Roman church, who visited him during his second incarceration in Rome (see 2 Timothy 1:8, 1:17 and 2:9). She and some others wished to greet Timothy, then in Ephesus, and the Apostle Paul attaches their warmest regards to his letter. Scriptural details like that argue like no theological theory, the delight of fellowship in the Body of Christ. But what about legends and traditions? What do THEY say about her?
Well, first of all, there is SOME evidence that Claudia Procula was already secret disciple. By setting this against the backdrop of Roman history of the time, by looking at the dates to see who was doing what and where, Val Wineyard in her book: "Claudia Procula: Wife of Pontius Pilate, Friend of Mary Magdalene" (for example) has been able to unravel the story of Claudia Procula as a secret disciple of Jesus and friend of Mary Magdalene. If this is true, Claudia Procula played a far bigger role in the Bible story than has ever been suspected. If she knew socially (or was friends with) many people in Jesus's circle (especially the women), Claudia was evidently fascinated by the Jewish religion and met Mary Magdalene. You see a depiction of this in the 2004 movie: "The Passion of the Christ," when Claudia Procula (portrayed by Claudia Gerini) consoles Jesus' mother Mary and Mary Magdalene, as she generously hands them towels to clean up the blood from his scourging. This does make SOME sense. How would the Apostles know the name of Pontius Pilate’s wife that tradition has named Claudia? Why would they care to know the spouse of the executor of our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ? Why would she be mentioned in the Gospels at all, if it were not for her dream, and how would the faithful learn about it unless she was one of them? Still, one might wonder: How would Claudia have even come in touch with the Lord Jesus? Protected in the Antonia fortress from danger, she may have heard about His odd entry into Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley, but as a Roman she neither identified with nor understood the Jewish problem. Was she one of the Gentiles fascinated with the faith of the people of the land? Had she a Hebrew servant who could pique her curiosity, enlightening her about the hope Jews had that the Galilean might be their long-awaited Messiah? One account identifies her as a Roman convert to Christianity.
Origen 2nd century Homilies on Matthew suggest that she became a Christian, but only AFTER Jesus' death. It has been suggested that God sent her the dream mentioned by Matthew so that she would convert to Christianity. This interpretation was shared by several theologians of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Rival theologians contended the dream was sent by Satan in an attempt to thwart the salvation that was going to result from Christ's death. This theory makes a lot of sense. It would make perfect sense that Satan was at work to halt the crucifixion. By this time, the crucifixion had become imminent. Satan's time had grown shorter by the minute. The penalty of sin was about to be paid one time for all. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, would now hold the prison of those dead in sin, and that they may be forgiven and enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Now, if Satan could stop this from happening; intercede in the prophecies, Jesus could NOT have fulfilled the Scripture, or the Law of death, thus, Satan would be victorious. So, it's quite possible that Satan sent a little vision of truth to Claudia to persuade her husband to have nothing to do with this crucifixion. And luckily for all of us, it was to no avail. Could Pilate have let Jesus go free? Of course he could have. Pilate freeing Christ would not have thwarted the plan of Salvation that God the Father had laid out in advance. There were other Roman authorities that could have carried out the sentence. But God did not see fit to force Pilate to release His Son, Jesus Christ. It was in God’s plan for all of this to happen. Regardless of what Pilate did, Jesus was destined to die on the cross for our sins. God used man to bring about man’s own salvation by allowing man to kill His own Son. What a loving God we serve!
It is also a possibly that Claudia may have been a Prophetess of that time period. This may explain the reason for her dream, though it still would not explain the purpose of it. Remember, a prophet was an individual who received a call from God to be God's spokesperson, often connected with some crisis that was about to occur, and then announced God's message of judgment and/or deliverance to Israel and the nations. The importance of this office can be seen in the fact that the word "prophet" occurs over 300 times in the Old Testament and almost 125 times in the New Testament. The term "prophetess" appears 6 times in the Old Testament and twice in the New Testament. The derivation and meaning of the word: "prophet" has been a matter of controversy for several centuries now with no prospect of closure on this debate. The English word: prophet comes from the Greek word προφήτης (prophḗtis) meaning "advocate" (a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy). The noun: nabi "prophet" is the original form, as well as the verb: nabu, "to call, " is helpful in suggesting that the passive meaning may well be "one who is called [by God]." If the verb is taken in its active form, a prophet is "an announcer [for God]." Therefore, the predictive sections of biblical prophecy exhibit certain key characteristics: (1) they are not isolated sayings, but are organically related to the whole of prophecy; (2) they plainly foretell things to come rather than being clothed in such abstruse terminology that they could be proven true, even if the opposite of what they appear to say happens; (3) they are designed to be predictions and are not accidental or unwitting predictions; (4) they are written and published before the event, so that it could not be said that it was a matter of human sagacity that determined this would take place; (5) they are fulfilled in accordance with the original utterance, unless expressly attached to a condition; and (6) they do not work out their own fulfillment, but stand as a verbal witness until the event takes place. Claudia Procula fell into all six of these categories that particular night. Still, nothing in the Holy Bible or the Gnostic Texts can substantiate whether or not she was a Prophetess, for it is speculative what caused her to have the dream in the first place.
Question is: Can God speak to us through dreams? He sure can! Almighty God has complete control, and continual command, of all the avenues that lead into the soul of man. He sends his message to the soul at the time. And the way that seems wisest and best to him. Numbers 12:6 says: "he said, 'Listen to my words: 'When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams." Job 33:14-18 says: "For God does speak—now one way, now another— though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds, he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, to turn them from wrongdoing and keep them from pride, to preserve them from the pit, their lives from perishing by the sword." Next question is: Has God spoken to other people through dreams, whether or not they were a Prophet or Prophetess? He sure did! Many times!
- God in this manner spoke to, Abraham concerning the bondage of his seed. (Genesis 15:12-14)
- God came to Abimelek king of Gerar in a dream and warned him about Sarah being a married woman (Genesis 20:3)
- Jacob saw a ladder set up into heaven. (Genesis 28:12)
- An angel of God came to Jacob in a dream and told him to leave Laban's land and to return home (Genesis 31:10-13)
- God came to Laban in a dream and told him not to say anything to Jacob, good or bad (Genesis 31:24)
- Joseph dreamed that the sun and moon and eleven stars made obeisance to him. (Genesis 37:9)
- Pharaoh had two dream that resembled 7 years of plenty and and 7 years of famine in Egypt. (Genesis 41:1-7)
- Nebuchadnezzar saw a great image of a large statue. (Daniel 2:31-35)
- Nebuchadnezzar saw an enormous tree and a holy messenger telling him to cut it down (Daniel 4:8-17)
- Daniel saw the end of time even till the judgment was set. (Daniel 7:1-28)
- Gideon heard a man telling a friend that God had given the Midianites into his hands. (Judges 7:13-15).
- God appeared to Solomon and said to ask for whatever he wanted God to give him. (1 Kings 3:5-15).
- Joseph was told to take Mary to be his wife. (Matthew 1:20)
- The wise men are told not to return to Herod. (Matthew 2:12)
- Joseph was told to flee to Egypt with Mary and the baby Jesus. (Matthew 2:13)
- Joseph was told to leave Egypt and go back to Israel because Herod was dead. (Matthew 2:19-20).
- Joseph was warned to withdraw from to the district of Galilee and live in Nazareth. (Matthew 2:22-23).
- Peter saw (in a vision) a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners and contained all kinds of four-footed animals (Acts 10:11-15).
So, what are we to make of these facts?
1. It is the only dream in the Bible of a woman.
2. It is the only dream concerning the end of Christ's life.
3. It was a disturbing dream that was more like a nightmare.
And now once again God, on that fateful night, and early morning before the crucifixion of our Lord, takes charge of the mind and soul of one of his earthly creatures. A message was divinely sent to convey a lesson to Pilate through his wife, who alone, perhaps, was able to arouse the better feelings of his heart. This was another warning given to Pilate to arrest him in his criminal cowardice. And in less than forty years the Roman armies besieged Jerusalem and its streets ran red with the blood of their children. They perished by the thousands on crosses after they had been scourged and tormented before death in all manner of ways. Josephus says five hundred a day, till there was no room for more crosses, nor crosses for bodies. Still the guilt of his blood rests on that race. But the blood of Jesus Christ could cleanse even those who shed it. His blood could cleanse Pilate, Caiaphas, the crowd who cried "Crucify him!", and the soldiers (i.e. the Centurions) who carried out the orders from the Pharisees: “His blood be on us and on our children!" (Matthew 27:25). Pilate knew that the blood was innocent. But he knew not the cleansing power of it. He knew not the preciousness of it. A vast majority of the Romans at that time never really did. Tradition tells us that Pilate developed a compulsion to wash his hands, which he did continually. It's easy to wash your hands, but you cannot wash your conscience. Pilate sacrificed Jesus of Nazareth to save his governorship, which he eventually ended up losing anyway.
Pontius Pilate's wife is also mentioned in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus (a.k.a: Acts of Pilate , probably written around the middle of the 4th century), which gives a more elaborate version of the episode of the dream than Matthew. The chronicle of Pseudo-Dexter (1619) is the first place known where she is referred to as Claudia. We know that she is the only Roman woman spoken of in the Gospels, and that she is, most likely, the only Roman woman of high rank whose heart had been touched by Jesus. We know that she was Pilate’s wife and lived with him faithfully and loved him. We know that she had to have been a woman with a sensitive spirit, full of spiritual feelings that would slip into her dreams. Finally, that she came to a moral decision to support him. In one act of courage, she did just that because she was convinced that Jesus was a Just Man. Pilate’s wife had that same moral courage that Esther had in the Old Testament. She put her life at stake and sent a message to her husband to leave Jesus alone. She was a woman between a rock and hard place. Somehow Jesus had affected her so deeply, she put her life on the line for Him, and yet she had a mate who had no thought for what was right, only for what made him look good. The story of this one woman with a dream will forever be one shining ray of light in the darkest hour and a part of the story of The Cross.
I imagine that she must have heard about Jesus before, as He was quite the famous figure in Jerusalem, but it is not likely that she had ever had the chance to meet Him. Her testimony of His innocence and goodness was based solely off the revelation and dream she had been given by God, and by the testimonies she must have heard from others. With only these two testimonies, she had the faith to do what many of Christ's Apostles and closest disciples didn't do-- to stand up for Him and to bear witness of His goodness (with the exception of Nicodemus). Most of us are in a similar position as Pilate's wife, because we will (probably) never see or meet Jesus Christ on this Earth and yet we are asked to stand as witnesses for Him and to bear testimony of Him. The only way we can know for sure that Jesus is who He says He is, is to rely on the promptings and revelations we receive from God as well as listen to the testimonies of those who have seen Him (like the prophets and the scriptures). I know that it's hard sometimes to believe in someone you've have never seen, and so I like this woman's story because her faith and her courage strengthen me and help me see that it isn't necessary to "see" or "meet" Jesus Christ to have a sure knowledge of His divine mission and purpose.
We don't know how much her message influenced Pilate's actions. Obviously, it wasn't enough to be able to stop him from having the Jews crucify Christ, but it may have been the reason he "washes his hands" of the whole affair and declares to the Pharisees that they are crucifying a just and innocent man. It makes me wonder what type of relationship Pilate and his wife had. Could it have been that Pilate respected and admired his wife's judgement and intuition? Did her message help him see Jesus for who He really was? Did Pilate and his wife talk about Jesus and about her dream later on? If she did become a Christian later on, how did Pilate take that? Did he support her? Did he ever regret that he allowed Jesus to be crucified? Was she upset at him because he didn't do enough to stop the Pharisees? It would have been very unusual for a woman to send counsel to her husband, especially when he was was sitting on the Judgement Seat before all the noble Romans and high ranking Pharisees in an important and high profile case. It was really quite brave of her to send such a message and she must have felt that what she had to say was very important and very urgent. Yet, it is even more unusual that her husband seemed to have listened to her. If it truly was a warning of some type, we know 3 things about her dream.
I. It was a warning against sin, Proverbs 29:25; Matthew 27:24; John 19:12.
II. It was a warning that was rejected, Matthew 16:25-26; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24 & 17:33.
III. It was a warning that had overwhelming consequences, Matthew 12:42; Acts 13:28-31.
Nevertheless, you can't fight destiny. God's will and plan was going to be carried out one way or another. It's hard to really say WHY Claudia Procula had her dream. Being a superstitious Roman socialite, it would have been hard for her to really understand WHAT her dream was about, let alone the reason for it. I'm sure it was something that she may have found out after the fact. And even though she is mentioned only once throughout the entire Holy Bible, that doesn't mean that we can't learn something from her.
What can we learn from Claudia Procula?:
- God speaks to us through our dreams;
- We need to have the courage to speak up for people we know are wrongly accused, even if that means sending our plea to highest authority in the land;
- When we get promptings, thoughts, dreams or visions that we can't seem to stop thinking about or worrying about, then we need to act on them;
- We are can believe in and bear witness to Jesus Christ, even if we have never seen Him.
Today, we honor Claudia Procula for her courage and perseverance for defending an innocent man; a holy man. Her dream may not have come about to save Jesus from physical death, but perhaps it came about as a precognition of the way Jesus would save all of us from spiritual death. Jesus' grace is never-ending. The dream may not have been a warning to stop a physical death in the immediate future, but it may have been a glimpse of how would be saved from spiritual deaths in the eternal future.
Claudia Procula (Image from "The Passion of the Christ" (2004)
