Have you ever desperately wanted to get an urgent message to your spouse, pronto? Do you recall a time when your spouse was about to make a huge decision and you happen to learn of some news at the last minute that would dramatically effect their decision? Have you ever been warned in a dream? In the gospels we find a wife, who just awoke from a haunting nightmare. She's dreadfully concerned about her husband who is in the middle of making a powerful, life-changing decision, not only for himself, but someone else.
In describing the last hours before Jesus' crucifixion, one of the gospel writers takes the time to record a scene in which a desperate wife is in an awful hurry to communicate with her prominent husband. Among the four gospels, only in Matthew will you find a short but significant verse about a governor's wife sending an urgent message to her husband, who happened to be the Roman Governor of Judea. He was sitting in the judge's seat early Friday morning during Jesus' trial proceedings. What was her urgent message?
While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him a 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." Matthew 27:19
A short while later, verse 24 records:
When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said, "It is your responsibility!" Although he washed his hands of the matter, verse 26 says: But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. Pilate only partially heeded his wife's warning.
Pilate had several opportunities to make the right decision, all reinforced by a plea from his wife who sent an urgent message saying, "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man." He chose to heed her message, but not completely. In addition, he didn't listen to his own conscience, which was telling him that Jesus was innocent. To top it all off, Roman law said an innocent man should not be put to death. So why did Pilate hand Jesus over to be crucified when he had no good excuse to condemn him? He was afraid of the crowd. He was willing to do whatever it took to keep the peace, even if it meant that a completely innocent man would die a terrible death.
A note regarding verse 24 in Tyndale's Life Application Study Bible reads: In making no decision, Pilate made the decision to let the crowds crucify Jesus. Although he washed his hands, the guilt remained. Washing your hands of a tough situation doesn't cancel your guilt. It merely gives you a false sense of peace. Don't make excuses - take responsibility for the decisions you make.
What did Pilate's wife dream about Jesus? What troubling images did she see in her dream during the wee hours of Friday morning that convinced her that it was imperative that she send a messenger to interrupt her husband while he sat in the judge's seat in the middle of a trial?
In her book, At Jerusalem's Gate: Poems of Easter, Nikki Grimes contemplates the quandary with this comment and the following poem: I love a good mystery and the Easter story is full of them. The night before Jesus stood in the Pilate's court, Pilate's wife spent hours tossing and turning from a nightmare. She woke with an overwhelming sense of dread and a certainty that the man on trial was innocent. Unable to shake the feeling, she sent a warning to Pilate during the proceedings. What exactly did she dream? I wish I knew.
Pilate's Wife
The dream that robbed my rest
still echoes in my ear
dispatching waves of fear
along my tingling spine.
The dream is drenched in blood,
the details of it gone
like mist by morning's end.
The memory lays me low.
I call my servant, "Quick!
Go to my husband's side.
Confide these words:
'Dismiss the one who waits
before your judgment seat.
Spill nothing of his blood
for he is innocent.'"
On this the dream was clear:
there's evil working here.
As you contemplate the messages you send to your spouse and receive from your spouse in the coming days ahead, whether urgent or subtle, keep in mind that the good Lord may be trying to get a message through to benefit both of you. Will you be listening? Will you heed the message entirely, or just partially? What might be holding you back from making the right decision?
Back at the Governor's Palace...On Sunday morning after Jesus' resurrection and in the days following, I'm wondering if the governor wished that he had completely heeded his wife's urgent message sent to him early Friday morning after she awoke from a dreadful nightmare at the palace.
Your Soul Sister
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Pirates, Kidnapping, Slavery and… Marriage?
What do pirates, kidnapping and slavery have to do with your marriage? Hopefully, directly, not a lot. However, in the month of March many of us remember St. Patrick’s Day – even if we simply add a bit o’ green to our wardrobe on the 17th.
Patrick’s father was a wealthy deacon of the Christian church in Britain. As a youngster, Patrick most likely enjoyed a relatively comfortable A.D. 400s British lifestyle. Everything drastically changed when, at the age of 16, Patrick was kidnapped by pirates during a raid and sold as a slave in Ireland.
While serving as a shepherd during his captivity, Patrick’s faith in God soared to great heights, and he dedicated himself to prayer. After six years of slavery, he escaped and returned to Britain. Because of the deep spiritual growth he experienced while in Ireland, Patrick became consumed with the idea of converting the Irish people to Christianity. After much study and more prayer, Patrick eventually returned to Ireland. He converted and baptized thousands of Irish people and established hundreds of churches.
Not bad for starting out as a teenager with a well-to-do deacon Dad, then suddenly being ripped from his comfortable home by pirates, taken to another country and forced to become a shepherd slave until he escaped six years later. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)
So, your marriage started out good. You’ve hit a few bumps along the way. Okay, actually, you have been traversing some major mountains for quite some time now and it’s getting ugly. “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
Sometimes, you may feel like you you’ve been kidnapped, banished to a foreign land called, “Marriage,” and are now serving as a type of slave to an institution also called, “Marriage.” Perhaps you are married to a “pirate” who has drastically changed your life or you feel like your life is going nowhere as you sit for hours at your job, perhaps bored, as a type of “shepherd slave.” “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)
Yes, marriage, and life in general, can get ugly, but take heart my dear Saint. You have options. Patrick’s life took a drastic turn for what seemed like the worse. However, he allowed the trials and struggles he was going through to transform him into a better person. He spent many hours in prayer and meditation becoming closer and closer to God. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Like Joseph in the Old Testament, Patrick ends up helping and showering love on the very people who harmed him earlier in life. Patrick and Joseph held no resentment for their mistreatment and were even thankful that God allowed their struggles in order to put them in a position to do great deeds and save many people. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (II Corinthians 4:16-17)
I challenge you to meditate on the scriptures above and allow the God of forgiveness, hope and redemption to cause you to return to your commitment to “love and cherish ‘til death do you part.”
This Spring, I do not wish you Irish luck or a charming leprechaun to lead you to a pot o’ gold at the end of the fairies’ rainbow, even though most of us wouldn’t mind a little more stash o’ cash in our wallets. My hope is that you are inspired to see beyond the adversity to a greater redemption than you can possibly imagine in the midst of your current struggle. “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (I Peter 5:10)
Your Soul Sister
Patrick’s father was a wealthy deacon of the Christian church in Britain. As a youngster, Patrick most likely enjoyed a relatively comfortable A.D. 400s British lifestyle. Everything drastically changed when, at the age of 16, Patrick was kidnapped by pirates during a raid and sold as a slave in Ireland.
While serving as a shepherd during his captivity, Patrick’s faith in God soared to great heights, and he dedicated himself to prayer. After six years of slavery, he escaped and returned to Britain. Because of the deep spiritual growth he experienced while in Ireland, Patrick became consumed with the idea of converting the Irish people to Christianity. After much study and more prayer, Patrick eventually returned to Ireland. He converted and baptized thousands of Irish people and established hundreds of churches.
Not bad for starting out as a teenager with a well-to-do deacon Dad, then suddenly being ripped from his comfortable home by pirates, taken to another country and forced to become a shepherd slave until he escaped six years later. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)
So, your marriage started out good. You’ve hit a few bumps along the way. Okay, actually, you have been traversing some major mountains for quite some time now and it’s getting ugly. “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
Sometimes, you may feel like you you’ve been kidnapped, banished to a foreign land called, “Marriage,” and are now serving as a type of slave to an institution also called, “Marriage.” Perhaps you are married to a “pirate” who has drastically changed your life or you feel like your life is going nowhere as you sit for hours at your job, perhaps bored, as a type of “shepherd slave.” “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)
Yes, marriage, and life in general, can get ugly, but take heart my dear Saint. You have options. Patrick’s life took a drastic turn for what seemed like the worse. However, he allowed the trials and struggles he was going through to transform him into a better person. He spent many hours in prayer and meditation becoming closer and closer to God. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Like Joseph in the Old Testament, Patrick ends up helping and showering love on the very people who harmed him earlier in life. Patrick and Joseph held no resentment for their mistreatment and were even thankful that God allowed their struggles in order to put them in a position to do great deeds and save many people. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (II Corinthians 4:16-17)
I challenge you to meditate on the scriptures above and allow the God of forgiveness, hope and redemption to cause you to return to your commitment to “love and cherish ‘til death do you part.”
This Spring, I do not wish you Irish luck or a charming leprechaun to lead you to a pot o’ gold at the end of the fairies’ rainbow, even though most of us wouldn’t mind a little more stash o’ cash in our wallets. My hope is that you are inspired to see beyond the adversity to a greater redemption than you can possibly imagine in the midst of your current struggle. “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” (I Peter 5:10)
Your Soul Sister
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