Claudia, Wife of Pontius Pilate: A Novel (22 page)

“Domina, the rabbi is at the Temple, teaching in the Court of the Gentiles.” Hotep’s eyes were alight with anticipation.

“I do not wish to anger my husband again.”

“He did not know where you were. He has not forbidden you to hear the rabbi.”

“No.” She thought a moment, then called for a wax tablet and a stylus. “I will send him a message, letting him know where we have gone.”

Dear husband, I have gone with Hotep to hear this rabbi who speaks in the Temple courtyard. I have heard many things about him and my curiosity is aroused. Your loving wife, Claudia

Lucius was at the Antonia with his troops, so she left the message with a servant to give him if he returned before she did. She and Hotep hurried through the streets toward the Temple.

If he was teaching in the Court of the Gentiles, perhaps there would be other Gentiles there and she would not be so conspicuous.

Jesus taught for over two hours and Claudia listened to his words eagerly. She sensed a change in her spirit as she listened. His words made sense to her.

“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst . . . And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

As he spoke these words, he turned and looked right at Claudia. She felt a shock go through her body. Was he telling her something? His words touched her deeply and a flicker of hope rose in her heart. He said he would not cast out anyone who came to him. He did not say just Jews, he said anyone. That was the message. He was offering her everlasting life if she would believe on him.

Surely if he said that to her, he would in no way cast out her small son who was in need of healing. Dare she hope? Dare she bring Doros to him? Her mind whirled with questions, but she knew she had changed—she believed him. How she could explain this all to Lucius, she didn’t know, but Jesus was real. He was not made of stone or wood, he was flesh and blood and he was offering her eternal life.

“I believe in you, Jesus,” she whispered softly, unheard by those
around her, and yet to her astonishment he turned and again looked right at her. For one brief moment it was as if there were no one in the court but the two of them. Had he heard her whispered cry? He gave her a brief smile and turned back to continue his teaching. Her heart was bursting as she nodded to Hotep and they slipped back through the crowd and hurried back to the palace.

One of the rabbi’s followers was standing by the entrance and Claudia whispered, “Hotep, ask him if the Teacher will be here tomorrow.” She kept her head down so the man couldn’t clearly see her face. When Hotep inquired, the man was busy watching Jesus.

“The Teacher will be here tomorrow as far as I know,” the man answered without looking at them.

Claudia’s heart lifted. She knew what she must do.

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L
ucius was still at the Antonia when she returned and she breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t know where she had gone. It was a small miracle and she wondered if she should thank the Jewish God. If Lucius didn’t know she had gone to hear Jesus, he couldn’t forbid her to go again. She hastily retrieved the tablet and the message she had left for him, erasing the words from the soft wax. Then she went to dress for dinner.

Lucius met her in the dining room and she found him in a strange mood. He greeted her and made sure she was comfortably seated before reclining on his couch for the meal.

“You seem troubled,” she ventured, hoping he would enlighten her on the cause of his brooding.

He sighed. “You have heard of this Jesus who is traveling around all of Judea doing miracles, or so people have told me.”

“Yes, and I have been very curious about him.”

He seemed not to hear her. “It was one of my centurions.”

“One of your centurions? What happened?”

“I was speaking with him and asked about this teacher at the Temple and if he knew anything about him or if he was dangerous. He told me he’d returned to his villa in Capernaum some months before to visit his family, and a favored servant became greatly ill and was on the verge
of death. The man had been his guardian from the time he was a boy. The physicians were not able to do anything for him. In desperation he sought out this Jesus and sent elders of the Jewish community to him. They pleaded with Jesus to come to the centurion’s house and heal him.”

She listened in amazement. “But your centurion is Roman. Would a Jewish rabbi come to his home to heal a servant?”

Lucius stared at the wine in his glass. “It seems my soldier is what they call a Godfearer—a man who loves the Jewish nation. He’d even built them a synagogue in the city.” He snorted. “A Roman soldier who builds Jewish synagogues!”

“But what happened? Did the rabbi come to his house?”

“He was on his way when the centurion sent friends to tell him—and you will not believe this—to tell him that he, a Roman officer, was not worthy to have this itinerant rabbi come under his roof nor was he worthy to come to Jesus and ask for his servant’s healing.”

Lucius paused, shaking his head slightly, his brows knit together.

She was getting impatient. “Did Jesus heal his servant?”

He looked up at her, his eyes full of bewilderment. “He said he told Jesus to just speak the word and his servant would be healed. Evidently Jesus was impressed with the centurion’s faith. The friends returned to his house and the servant was up from his bed, totally healed and serving his master.”

“Then the stories I have heard about Jesus are true.” Hope rose again in her heart. If Jesus would heal the servant of a Roman soldier, would he not have mercy on their son?

Still, she couldn’t gauge what reaction her husband would have if she told him of her plan, and if he forbid her to go, he could discipline her severely in his anger. She must plan carefully.

She reached out and touched his face. “This troubles you, beloved?”

“If I didn’t know of his integrity and his reputation as a soldier, I would think the man demented. As he told me the story, I watched his face for some sign of a joke, but the man was sincere. There was something in his manner that caused me to believe him.”

Claudia wanted to rejoice. Was her husband softening toward the Jews? She didn’t understand all that he was feeling, but there was a change in him, and silently she thanked the Hebrew God. Then a strange thought came to her. Because she believed Jesus and the words he spoke, did that make her a Godfearer also?

“My husband, have you heard any other stories of the miracles this man performs?”

“There are stories everywhere I go. Feeding a mass of people with next to nothing—a few loaves of bread and some fish, blind men given their sight, the deaf having their ears unstopped. He even casts out demons and they obey him. Where does he get this power? Is he a sorcerer?”

She started to say, “The rabbi says,” but changed it to, “I have heard many stories also from the servants and from Joanna of miraculous things. They say he gets his power from his God—the God of the Hebrews. He calls this God his father.”

Her husband’s mood passed and the wonderment was gone. He was the consummate Roman soldier again, scoffing at the idea of a man receiving power from a god.

That night she comforted him as a wife and he held her a long time. He needed her and she was counting on his favor. She would need all her courage for what she had in mind.

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C
laudia prayed for Lucius to be occupied elsewhere the next day. If he was in his study, her plans were to no avail. When he told her he was traveling to inspect the work on the aqueduct, she silently rejoiced, wished him a safe journey, and from a window in the palace watched him ride away with his men.

“Hotep, help me dress, quickly.”

Then she waited impatiently while the girl dressed her hair.

Doros was playing with the blocks that had been in her small chest from her own childhood. He loved to stack them and then knock them down again. The little boy’s laughter caused her heart to swell with mother love. She would do anything for her son, even risk the wrath of her husband. What if her mission failed and Lucius found out she had taken Doros to the Temple? She shuddered at the thought. Still, he had not forbid her and she could innocently remind him of that fact should the occasion arise.

When she was ready, she gathered her son in her arms and, with Hotep behind her, went to see if Joanna was in her quarters. To her relief, Joanna was there. When Claudia explained what she wanted to do, not only did Joanna agree to go with her, but Chuza would go also, as protection.

“Oh, Chuza, that would be wonderful.” That should be in her favor if she had to face Lucius.

The five of them hurried through the streets, and as they approached the Temple, Doros looked up. “Big, big, Mater.”

“Yes, Doros, it is very big.”

They went up the steps to the Court of the Gentiles, and when she saw the crowd and Jesus speaking, she realized she’d been holding her breath.

One of the listeners told Chuza that the Teacher had been speaking since early morning. He was telling them a parable.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding and they were not willing to come . . .”

Why would someone insult the host and not come to his son’s wedding? Claudia mused at this breach of manners. No Roman invited to the wedding of the emperor would dare refuse.

“Again he sent out other servants saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his farm, and another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.”

Claudia looked at Joanna and shook her head. Joanna smiled. They both knew what would happen to those ungrateful guests if it were the emperor.

“But when the king heard about it, he was furious, and he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.”

The crowd murmured among themselves and nodded their heads in agreement. “This was what those men deserved,” she heard someone say.

As Jesus went on, Claudia tried to picture Tiberius sending servants out to gather the poor people on the streets and anyone they got hold of, imploring them to come to the emperor’s wedding. She couldn’t begin to imagine such a scene.

Doros squirmed in her arms and she passed him to Hotep, who had a way of keeping the small boy occupied and distracted.

Jesus continued with his story. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have a wedding garment. So he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?’ The man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot. Take him away and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

What did he mean? Claudia listened carefully. Did it mean that this kingdom of God was available to all, but like the first wedding guests some would turn away and refuse? She recalled the previous day when Jesus had looked at her and warmth had filled her being. Was she chosen? She had spoken to him in her heart, but he had turned at that moment and looked at her, and she knew something had changed inside. She felt lighter and full of hope. Unhappy thoughts of the past seemed to slip away to the shadows where they belonged.

Some of the Sadducees, the sect who did not believe in the resurrection of the body as the Pharisees did, had been listening. They murmured among themselves and then one of them, as their spokesman, smirked and posed a question.

“Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second on through the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven shall she be, for they all had her to wife?”

Jesus looked at them with an expression akin to pity and shook his head. “You are mistaken and do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels of God in heaven.”

The group of Sadducees looked at him and shook their heads,
clearly perplexed. After commenting among themselves again, they turned and strode out of the Temple court.

Claudia and Joanna looked after them and then at each other as Chuza whispered, “He confounds even the leaders and they have no response.”

The four continued to listen to the Teacher and marvel at his words. He was telling the crowd that the Son of Man, as he called himself, would judge the nations.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him.”

Jesus went on to talk about sheep and goats and that the sheep would be gathered into the fold and the goats dismissed. She finally understood that the sheep were the believers and the goats were the unbelievers.

Jesus went on. “‘Come, you blessed of My Father, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison and come to you?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’”

Jesus taught another hour, and then the people surged forward with those who were sick and invalid. His eyes full of compassion, he began to lay hands on them. As Claudia and those with her watched in amazement, each one was healed.

Claudia could not bring herself to expose herself to the crowd. She could not face Lucius if they turned against her. In spite of the story told by the centurion who spoke with Lucius, she was afraid Jesus
would dismiss her plea. She gathered her courage and turned to her maidservant. “Hotep, take Doros to Jesus. I cannot. Perhaps if he does not know whose son it is, the Teacher will have mercy.”

The maidservant, her eyes wide with apprehension, clutched Doros to her and moved through the crowd until she was facing Jesus. The Teacher smiled at the boy, and Doros, who had been whimpering, suddenly stopped and smiled back. Hotep stood him on the ground so that Jesus could see his crippled foot.

Claudia could not hear what Jesus said to her maidservant, but Hotep turned and looked back at her mistress. A jolt of fear shot through Claudia. Was she yet to have to reveal herself in front of the crowd? Lucius would never forgive her.
Lord, know my heart. I cannot. Please, have mercy on my son.

Then, to her astonishment, in her mind she clearly heard the words:
You are mine, beloved woman, and one day you will serve me. Do not fear, for I will go ahead of you.

Then Jesus reached down and put his hand on the little boy’s foot. In moments it became straight and normal like his other one.

Tears of joy ran down Claudia’s cheeks and she felt as if her heart would burst from her chest. The crowd parted as Doros ran back to her and she swept him up in her arms. She had dressed simply with no adornments and wore the cloak of a servant. Though the heavy shawl slipped for a moment, it still hid most of her face. She anticipated someone recognizing her, but the people had turned back to watch still another miracle as a man bent over for years was healed and jumping joyously in front of Jesus.

Joanna and her husband marveled at the miracle, touching the new foot. Then Chuza, aware of his duties as guardian, glanced around. “Let us go quickly, my lady, while the crowd is distracted. It is best.”

They moved quickly out of the Temple, Claudia still holding her son tightly to her. She could hardly see for the tears that streamed down her face. Her mind turned with the enormity of what had been done. What would her husband’s response be?

As they neared the palace and slipped in the back entrance, one of the servants told Claudia that the governor had returned and was asking for her.

Joanna, tears in her eyes, put a hand on her arm. “We will pray for you, my lady.” Claudia nodded and as Joanna left, turned to her maidservant. “Hotep, what did the Teacher say to you?”

“He asked where the boy’s mother was. He knew I was not the mother. I said she does not feel worthy to come and asks that you have mercy on her only son.”

Jesus had heard her silent prayer. To the maid, she murmured, “Thank you. Please take Doros to our quarters. I will come later.”

Her handmaid took the boy. “How will you tell him, Domina?”

“I don’t know, but the Teacher spoke to my heart and said he would go before me. I must trust him for the right words.”

Claudia stood in the courtyard and watched her servant carry Doros up the stairs. Then she turned and was startled to find Lucius watching her, his eyes narrowed.

“Where have you been with my son?”