Living All In

While he 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.”

The verse is Matthew 27:19.  ‘He’ is Pontius Pilate. And his wife, most likely a woman named Claudia Procula, reveals either evidence of female intuition or divine prophecy.

If only Pilate had listened to his wife, Jesus wouldn’t have been crucified.  Or at least Pilate’s hands would have been clean in the process.  But to learn more about Pilate’s wife, look no farther than to Antoinette May, author of the fictional work, Pilate’s Wife.  Before you think this is a work of Christian fiction, it is decidedly fiction written around decidedly formative events in Christian history, but it’s not a friendly read to those that love the Bible and take its word seriously.

So rest easy Mel Gibson, it wasn’t the Jewish leaders of the day that killed Jesus, it was men.  Think the ultimate Everybody Loves Raymond ‘I told you so’, except in this episode, Ray’s wife is a New Testament clairvoyant who dabbles in cults and pagan rituals and Ray ends up convicting the Christ.

My ‘favorite’ review quote from USA Today:

…readers with a flexible vision of Christ’s divinity who thrilled to the savage Imperial pomp of Russell Crowe’s Gladiator just might give Pilate’s Wife the thumbs-up.

Get it?  Thumbs up?  Like in Gladiator, the emperor decides whether the contestants in the arena live or die?  Very clever from the reviewer.  I like clever.  Probably why I’d rather watch Everybody Loves Raymond more than reading Pilate’s Wife.