March 26
“While (Pilate) was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, ‘Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him,’” Matthew 27:19.
The Roman ruler, Pontius Pilate, was taking a brief break during the trial of Jesus. He had asked the people for their decision with reference to which prisoner they wanted him to release to them. He really was putting the decision about what would happen to Jesus into the hands of an angry, hate-filled crowd.
While waiting for their response, he sat on the official judgment chair. A messenger came to him with a message from his wife. While wives were permitted to accompany their husbands into the provinces where they worked, they were not permitted to interrupt any proceedings. Thus, it was necessary for a messenger to inform Pilate of the urgent message that she had for him: “Have nothing to do with that just Man!”
Repeatedly, Pilate had asked the crowd, “What evil has He done?” Repeatedly, he also told the angry crowd, “I find no fault in Him!” Now, Pilate was informed by his wife that Jesus was a just Man! She did not want her husband to sentence a just Man to death! She was a wife who was concerned about the welfare and the reputation of her husband! She was seeking his good! O God, give us more women like that!
Besides what is reported by the evangelist Matthew, we do not know anything about Pilate’s wife. We do not know how much Pilate and his wife discussed the trial of Jesus, or whether they discussed it at all.
Her reason for getting a warning to Pilate was because she had suffered much in a dream because of what was being done to Jesus. She did not want her husband to have anything to do with a horrible injustice! In her dream, Jesus appeared as the “Just One!” and perhaps she feared that her husband was on the verge of condemning and sentencing a just Man to death!
It is certainly very likely that the hand of God was playing a role in her dream. The Bible does not report whether Pilate questioned the messenger for any other details of the dream. Neither does the Bible report whether Pilate gave the messenger a response to be taken back to his wife.
As one reads this brief account about Pilate’s wife, it should impress upon us that husbands and wives should be very much concerned about the physical and spiritual welfare of each other. They should be guided by genuine love for one another, not the Hollywood type. One can also add that there are times when husbands ought to listen carefully to what their wives have to say!
Whether Pilate’s wife knew anything more about Jesus other than being a just Man, we do not know. Some seem to think that she may have become a convert to Christianity. Thank God for the wives and women who accept Christ as the sinless Son of God and their Savior and the Savior of all people, and who bear witness publicly for Jesus!
“O blessed home where man and wife
Together lead a godly life,
By deeds their faith confessing!
There many a happy day is spent,
There Jesus gladly will consent
To tarry with His blessing.
O Lord, we come before Thy face;
In ev’ry home bestow Thy grace,
On children, father, mother.
Relieve their wants, their burdens ease,
Let them together dwell in peace,
And love to one another.” Amen.