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Ever heard the story of the wife of Pontius Pilate?
She played an important, yet understated
role in the crucifixion of Jesus.
Her warning to her husband not to have
anything to do with Jesus should stand as a warning for all husbands to listen
to your wives!
About the time Jesus was being brought in,
we hear the wife of Pontius Pilate was having a troublesome, fitful
sleep.
Legend has it she was being haunted in a
dream by Jesus.
Historians say her name was Claudia
Procula.
Greek scholar and early Christian
theologian Origen was the first to mention THAT Claudia may have converted to
Christianity.
In fact, in the Eastern Orthodox Church
and Ethiopian Orthodox Church, she is known as St. Claudia.
In last Sunday’s Passion narrative, we
heard this passage:
“While he was still seated on the bench,
his wife sent him a message, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man. I
suffered much in a dream (last night) because of him.”
Some may have a vivid image of Claudia
from the movie The Passion of the Christ. In it she is
seen pleading with her husband Pontius Pilate to leave this innocent, holy man
alone.
When she realizes her failure to prevent
Christ’s crucifixion, we see her tearfully and shamefully giving the mother of
Jesus a fresh, white linen to clean up the blood of her Son's scourging.
Catholic philosopher and director of the
New Saint Thomas Institute Director Dr. Taylor Marshall offers an interesting
perspective on Claudia.
In an examination of the
tradition of Pontius Pilate’s wife, he found something remarkable, something
astounding.
He said “there is a ‘tradition’
that Pontius Pilate’s wife Claudia Procula had a dream of billions of
people chanting ‘sub Pontio Pilato’ over and over and over.”
Anyone remember their Latin?
What’s the meaning of the word
“sub?”
(That’s right.) The word means “under.”
In her dream she was hearing billions of
people chanting “under Pontius Pilate.”
Now think about that for a
moment. Sound familiar?
How many Catholics exist on the
planet today?
Estimates now place the number at about
1.4 billion. There are another 300-million Orthodox Christians in the
world today. Add to that all the Catholics and Orthodox Christians who
have come before us. And you have Billions! Billions of people chanting
“under Pontius Pilate.”
Starting to see what Dr. Marshall
is seeing? Or better yet hear what Dr. Marshall is hearing?
In both the Nicene Creed and Apostles
Creed there is the same line: “under Pontius Pilate.”
Dr. Marshall contends “What (Claudia)
was hearing (in her dream) was the billions of Christians who recite ‘He was
crucified (and suffered) under Pontius Pilate’” in the two Creeds voiced
each week by Catholics and Orthodox Christians around the world.
Dr. Marshall thinks, “Most women would
be honored to know that their husband’s name would be on the lips of
billions over a period of 20 centuries. But in the case of this Prefect of
Judea, it is the notorious reputation of being the … cause of Christ’s
crucifixion” that haunted her sleep and eventually may have converted her to
living a Christian life.
As Dr. Marshall reminds us “Pontius
Pilate’s name is in the Creeds because it anchors the life of Christ into human
history, specifically Roman history.”
The story of Jesus has reverberated throughout
two thousand years of human history.
Today, we do not rush past the cross. We
stand before it. We venerate it. Because by the wood of the cross, Jesus did something
remarkable for us. He opened the doors of heaven for all his believers. He
reconciled us to God the Father. He set us free from the chains and bonds of the
evil one in our lives.
His suffering is for us. That served as
a wake-up call for a pampered and privileged Claudia Procula.
Jesus hopes it serves as a wake-up call
for all of us as well.
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