The great practical truth which ought to be derived from the text is, that, however our actions have been foreknown and overruled by God, we shall be answerable for them, as resulting from our own will and wrought in opposition to sufficient warning and instruction.
I. It may occur to us as in some respects singular, that this vision was to Pilate's wife, and not to Pilate himself. Why was there this indirect communication? We can only say, that this would greatly depend on points in Pilate's character with which we have not full acquaintance, and that we are bound to conclude that God took the course which was best adapted, on the whole, to the circumstances of the case. As the supernatural message came through Pilate's wife, there may have been furnished a double motive to the governor; in addition to obedience to the vision, there may have been the desire of pleasing the person to whom it had been granted. The attachment of Pilate to his wife may have been great; and on such a supposition, the terrors of the vision would have been more effective upon Pilate as conveyed to him through the tears and entreaties of her whom he loved, than had they burst upon him in their unearthliness, with all the demonstrations of superhuman agency.
II. Observe how greatly it increased the criminality of Pilate, that the message of his wife reached him at the very moment of his taking his place on the judgment seat. Whatever power the vision could have was brought to bear upon him at the precise moment when he most required aid; and the whole thing was ordered, so as to afford him the strongest possible assurance that it had come as a warning from God, and to afford it him when it was most likely to strengthen him to do right. We believe that the same accurate timing of warning and admonition is to be traced in the experience of all, so that, if any one would carefully observe how things fall out when he is exposed to temptation, he would find proof that God sends him seasonable aids, and disposes events to the strengthening him to resist and overcome. Certainly, if He took care that Pilate should receive a message just as he ascended the tribunal whence he would be tempted to deliver a wrong verdict; He will not leave without the appropriate assistance any of those who, being brought into perilous circumstances, are sincerely desirous to keep unsullied their Christian profession.
H. Melvill, Sermons on Less Prominent Facts,vol. ii., p. 258.
Consider:
I. Pilate's behaviour on the occasion of this memorable trial. Our Lord's accusers told him that they had brought Jesus there on political grounds, because He disturbed the public peace by assuming a royal title, by inciting the people to insurrection, and by forbidding them to pay the customary tribute to Rome. This, of course, was a most transparent falsehood, and the shrewd Roman saw through it at a glance. It was absurd to suppose that an attempt to free the nation from the yoke of the foreigner could be criminal in the eyes of the Jewish Sanhedrim. There must be some deeper motive, which at present he could not fathom, for this particular proceeding. Pilate was inclined to do right, but feared to do right. At one time he thought he would follow his convictions and take the consequences. At another time these consequences seemed so appalling that he shrank from the step which would involve him in them. He hesitated, he wavered, and it was just at this very crisis of his fate that there came a supernatural impulse a warning from Heaven that he could not have expected or hoped for to urge him in the right direction. But it was all to no purpose. The populace, instigated by their priests, chose Barabbas for pardon, howled for the death of Jesus; and the unhappy Roman governor gave way when he heard their clamour.
Consider:
II. The Saviour's mode of dealing with this unhappy man. It is obvious, on the very surface of the narrative, that Christ did all in His power to save Pilate from the commission of this monstrous crime. He endeavoured to awaken Pilate's conscience, to strengthen his good resolutions, to make him understand the unspeakable importance of the circumstances in which he was placed; and we can see clearly that He produced an impression which although it did not, unhappily, lead to the desired result never passed away entirely from the mind of the Roman official. But another agency still is brought to bear upon the Roman governor, even the supernatural agency connected with the dream of his wife. We may suppose that Pilate was greatly attached to his wife. This circumstance is rendered more probable by the fact that he had brought her with him into the province, whereas to have left her behind would have been in accordance with the usual custom of the Jewish procurators. When this message comes therefore from one of whose sincerity and affection he could not for a moment stand in doubt, can it be supposed that even the words of Jesus Himself would produce a deeper effect upon the mind of this perplexed and vacillating man? I cannot but look upon this incident as the supreme Divine effort for the salvation of the sinner, as the last instrumentality which even God Himself was able to employ, the success or failure of which would decide the question of Pilate's eternal destiny.
G. Calthrop, Penny Pulpit,No. 1,059.
References: Matthew 27:19. T. R. Stevenson, Christian World Pulpit,vol. vi., p. 14; D. G. Watt, Ibid.,vol. xv., p. 366; G. T. Coster, Ibid.,vol. xxviii., p. 118; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxviii., No. 1647; Homiletic Magazine,vol. xii., p. 246. Matthew 27:20. H. Phillips, Christian World Pulpit,vol. i., p. 478. Matthew 27:20-54. Parker, Inner Life of Christ,vol. iii., p. 248.