It was while Pilate was waiting for them to make up their minds that he was handed a note by an attendant.  It was from his wife and he read it uneasily, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him” (NRSV, Matthew 27:19).

The night before, Caiaphas must have called on the governor to encourage the emergency trial and no doubt Pilate’s wife, Claudia Procula, would have learnt of his visit and its purpose.  But as she slept in the dawn hours she dreamt, and that dream made so deep, so urgent an impression on her that when she awoke and found that the trial had already begun, she hastily scribbled this message to her husband begging him not to condemn Jesus.