Matthew 27:19

When he was seated upon the judgement seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of Him. O, how miraculous! While being judged by Pilate, …

"And as he was sitting in the place of judgment, his wife sent to him." Above the evangelist set forth one reason why Pilate strove to release him; here he sets forth another reason, namely, the warning of his wife. And first, the warning is …

It is to be noted, that the bench (tribunal) is the seat of the judge, the throne (solium) of the king, the chair (cathedra) of the master. In visions and dreams the wife of a Gentile understood what the Jews when awake would neither believe nor understand. Or otherwise; The devil now at last understanding that he should lose his trophies through Christ, as he had at the first brought in death by a woman, so by a woman he would deliver Christ out of the hands of His enemies, lest through His death he should lose the sovereignty of death.

Secondly, It was a fair warning to Pilate; Have nothing to do with him. Note, God has many ways of giving checks to sinners in their sinful pursuits, and it is a great mercy to have such checks from Providence, from faithful friends, and from our own consciences; it is also our great duty to hearken to them.

When he was set down on the judgment seat,....

These verses describe our Lord’s appearance before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. That sight must have been wonderful to the angels of God. He who will one day judge the world allowed himself to be judged and condemned, though “he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” ( Isaiah 53:9 ). He, from whose lips Pilate and Caiaphas will one day receive their eternal sentence suffered silently, an unjust sentence to be passed upon him.

I EARNESTLY wished to pursue the story of our Savior's trials previous to His Crucifixion, but when I sat down to study the subject I found myself altogether incapable of the exercise. "When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me." My emotions grew so strong and my sense of our Lord's grief became so extremely vivid that I felt I must waive the subject for a time. I could not watch with Him another hour and yet I could not leave the hallowed scene!

These verses describe our Lord’s appearance before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. That sight must have been wonderful to the angels of God. He who will one day judge the world allowed himself to be judged and condemned, though “he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” ( Isaiah 53:9 ). He, from whose lips Pilate and Caiaphas will one day receive their eternal sentence suffered silently, an unjust sentence to be passed upon him. Those silent sufferings fulfilled the words of Isaiah: “as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” ( Isaiah 53:7 ). To those silent sufferings believers owe all their peace and hope. Through them they will have boldness in the day of judgment, who in themselves would have nothing to say. Let us learn from the conduct of Pilate how pitiful is the condition of an unprincipled great man. Pilate appears to have been inwardly satisfied that our Lord had done nothing worthy of death: we are told distinctly that “he knew that for envy they delivered him.” Left to the exercise of his own unbiased judgment, he would probably have dismissed the charges against our Lord, and let him go free. But Pilate was the governor of a jealous and turbulent people; his great desire was to procure favor with them and please them: he cared little how much he sinned against God and conscience so long as he had the praise of man. Though willing to save our Lord’s life, he was afraid to do it if it offended the Jews; and so, after a feeble attempt to divert the fury of the people from Jesus to Barabbas, and a fleeblier attempt to satisfy his own conscience by washing his hands publicly before the people, he at last condemned one whom he himself called a “just person.” He rejected the strange and mysterious warning which his wife sent to him after her dream: he stifled the remonstrances of his own conscience.

I EARNESTLY wished to pursue the story of our Savior's trials previous to His Crucifixion, but when I sat down to study the subject I found myself altogether incapable of the exercise. "When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me." My emotions grew so strong and my sense of our Lord's grief became so extremely vivid that I felt I must waive the subject for a time. I could not watch with Him another hour and yet I could not leave the hallowed scene! It was, therefore, a relief to meet with the episode of Pilate's wife and her dream. It enables me to continue the thread of my narrative and yet to relax the extreme tension of the feelings caused by a near view of the Master's grief and shame. My spirit failed before the terrible sight. I thought I saw Him brought back from Herod where the men of war had set Him at naught. I followed Him through the streets, again, as the cruel priests pushed through the crowd and hastened Him back to Pilate's hall. I thought I heard them in the streets electing Barabbas, the robber, to be set free, instead of Jesus, the Savior, and I detected the first rising of that awful cry, "Crucify, crucify," which they shrieked out from their bloodthirsty throats! And there He stood, who loved me and gave Himself for me, like a lamb in the midst of wolves, with none to pity and none to help Him.