Proximity to the Process
Matthew 27:19
Life in the pandemic-stricken United States has been apocalyptic, to say the least. Many things that had been simmering beneath the surface were revealed for all to see. Support for groups that thrive on hatred and fear became visible on mainstream social media platforms despite supposed “community standards” which should have provided a safeguard against hate speech. Uprisings against injustice were mischaracterized as events that sparked more dissension and division. Local police systems cracked under the weight of corrupt practices and morally bankrupt practitioners. We saw the devastating results of people voting against their own interests simply out of a desire to block what might have been in the best interest of others who did not look like them. None of these behaviors can be described as new or original. They were exposed, revealed, and made plain for the world to see.
After years of watching men and women of color dying at the hands of careless police officers, on January 6th, 2021, a building that should have been one of the most secure buildings in the US, was stormed by angry men and women fueled by false notions and the intoxicating elixir of white supremacy. As I watched the events unfold on the screen in front of me, I kept asking, “How is this even possible? How did they miss this? Didn’t anyone see this coming?” The only answer that I could come up with was that there was someone with a certain proximity to the process who allowed this to happen. Someone knew what was brewing and said nothing. Someone had to have been close enough to hamstring the security system in and around the Capitol. Someone with influence and access had a hand in making this event successful. Often, an influential voice is not a loud voice. Rather, it may be a quiet voice that speaks few words but the words are influential because they don’t have to travel far to be effective. On that day, the loud voice that for some embodied the Great American Process provided the encouragement that made such an attack possible. However, there was no evidence of a quieter voice that might have changed the events of the day.
Matthew paints a picture of the trial of Jesus that includes a number of potential influencers. Jesus is permitted to speak on his own behalf. The chief priests and elders have a voice as they bring accusations against Jesus. Of course, there is a crowd gathered close enough to be heard as well. Pilate has a responsibility to the people and as he attempted to fulfill his duties as governor, one more voice emerges. It makes sense that the other characters were there to impact the outcome but why would the governor’s wife show up? She is not an obvious power player in this scene but as the governor’s wife, she certainly has proximity to the process. I would imagine that he might share the details of a good day “at the office” as well as the details of a bad day “at the office.” Perhaps she has an acute understanding of the difficulties of the governor’s job even if she does not have the same kind of influence as others who are involved in the governmental process. She is not bound by the same rules of engagement as others with more to gain or lose by their participation. This freedom sets her up to be a prime influencer at the appointed hour.
The text does not indicate any intimate contact between Pilate and his wife nor is there any indication that she was permitted to participate in the governmental process. All we know is that she is able to get a message to him while he was sitting on the judge’s seat. We don’t know if she sent word through a whisper or as a written note. The method does not matter - the content of the message is the key. She reveals that she has had a dream. The dream was so troubling that it has caused her to suffer ‘a great deal’. The details of the dream are not revealed but the message is clear. This man - this Jesus - is innocent. Pilate’s wife is not able to change the process but she can change her husband’s culpability in the process. She does not seem concerned with saving Jesus, per se. She may be concerned with her husband’s role in the process or she may simply want to return to peaceful sleep and not the suffering that this process has brought. It seems that any outcome in which Jesus is found guilty by Pilate is one that will bring trouble to their household.
Pilate’s wife is an agent of the divine in the midst of a governmental process. The system was set up in a way that gave Pilate an out even if it still results in the crucifixion of Jesus. He probably could have influenced the outcome in a way that would have implicated him differently. He might not have known that this event superseded the scope of his authority. He probably did not know that there was a divine plan at play here. All of the other influences were natural. His wife’s dream could have been supernatural. While everyone else was working from what they knew and had experienced, she is able to bring a message that is beyond what any of the characters could have imagined. Proclaiming publicly that Jesus was innocent was the important factor. Even if the justice system was not just and the process was not proper, the dream provided an important piece of the puzzle. Even if Pilate could not change the process by which Jesus was handed over to be crucified, he could act in accordance with the information that he received from his wife and absolve himself in both the natural and the supernatural contexts.
Innocent people of color have suffered and died at the hands of the US government for as long as we have had an established government. This picture of proclaiming someone’s innocence as they are wading through a system that is neither designed nor set up to presume their innocence is not new. We can find hope in the loophole that Pilate’s wife’s actions provide. She did not change the working of the system. She did not dismantle it with a swift message to her spouse. From within a broken system, she provided evidence to support the innocence of the one who stood silently in the face of his accusers. The crowd was on record. The chief priests and scribes were on record. Pilate could have also gone on record and agreed with the loudest voices but he did not. There was a small but credible voice that used its proximity to at least impact the process if she could not change the process. The word came to her in a dream. The word came from her in a message. Then the word came through Pilate that Jesus was indeed innocent and the weight of this broken process did not lie with him. As we continue to live in these apocalyptic times and things continue to be exposed and revealed, may we find ourselves emboldened to avail ourselves to the supernatural to speak to us in dreams. May we find ourselves emboldened to get a message to those in power when we realize that we are in proximity to the power and the process. May we find ourselves safe to fight another day and may we see that our voice can be one of the Master’s tools that will dismantle the house that the self-proclaimed master has built.
Reverend Carla Jones Brown has been called to serve Arch Street Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia as the first Woman and the first African American Senior Pastor/Head of Staff in the church’s history. Rev. Jones Brown earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Africana Studies and a Masters Degree in English Education from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. She is also a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary where she earned a Master of Divinity Degree. She received the Edward Howell Roberts Scholarship in Preaching as a second year student and the David B. Watermulder Prize in Church Leadership as a senior. She is also a contributing author in a book entitled, This is My Story, a collection of essays and sermons written by African American female preachers which was edited by Dr. Cleophus J. LaRue. (Westminster John Knox Publishing 2005.)
She has held many different positions in academic and church settings in the tri-state area - including teaching English at Long Branch High School as well as at the Promise Academy High School of Harlem Children’s Zone and serving as Principal of Promise Academy High School in Camden, New Jersey. She turned a love of food into a small personal chef business (Carla’s Custom Cuisine). She served Lancaster Bible College at the Philadelphia campus as Registrar and Assistant Professor as well as in the capacity of Department Coordinator for Arts and Sciences.
Reverend Jones Brown has served several congregations as a member, an intern, and as an associate minister. She has served in Philadelphia at Triumph Baptist Church, Bright Hope Baptist Church, Salem Baptist Church of Jenkintown, and St. Paul’s Baptist Church, where Rev. Dr. Leslie D. Callahan is pastor. Licensed to preach by the Seacoast Baptist Association in New Jersey on December 23, 2001 and ordained into the ‘work of the gospel ministry’ on January 30, 2005, Rev. Jones Brown now belongs to the Philadelphia Presbytery as a member with voice and vote.
Rev. Jones Brown lives in Cherry Hill, NJ with her husband Charles Brown.