Category: EDU

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R4E130830 – Claudia Procula (New Testament Character Study) by Douglas Jacoby

You can download the full audiobook recording on qobuz or amazon or itunes.

The wife of Pilate

• Note: If you haven’t yet listened to the podcast on Pontius Pilate, please do so now, as this will provide helpful background information so that you may better understand Claudia.
• What was it like to relocate because of your husband’s career?
• What was it like to move to a distant land?
• What was it like to move where people didn’t speak your language?

The text & Claudia’s dream

• Matthew 27:19: Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream.”
• The dream was Thursday night / Friday morning of the Passion Week.
• Some early Christians said that her dream was sent by God to help her become a Christian.
• Others suggested that this was a scheme of Satan to thwart the crucifixion.
• In fact, God spoke through dreams to several other people in the course of biblical history. In particular, non-believers to whom he spoke include:
  • Pharaoh (Genesis 40-41)
  • Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2)
  • Xerxes (Esther 6:1)
  • The list is not exhaustive; the Lord spoke to many believers and non-believers alike, though it is not easy to discern whether or to what extent he still speaks to us by this means in our time.

In later legend:

• Orthodox saint!
• 4th C. Acts of Pilate — more elaborate. She appears in the earlier 2nd C. literature also.
• These documents tended to paint Christianity and Rome as relating positively. That is, they may have propaganda.
• Could she have become a Christian? In Acts we see several upper-class women responding to the gospel, so it cannot be ruled out. Yet there is no direct evidence for this speculation.

Lessons for us

• Learn from all the character of the Bible: major, minor; believer, non-believer; male, female…
• Be sensitive to subtle cues God may be giving us.
• [Repeated from Pilate lesson:] Don’t ignore your wife’s counsel. After all, women are often more spiritually attuned than men.
• If your husband is a knucklehead, do share spiritual input. Yet make it count; be strategic:
  • The right subject.
  • The right time.
  • The right tone.