Claudia, Wife of Pontius Pilate: A Novel (23 page)

 34 

S
he looked up at him and gave him her warmest smile. “Oh Lucius, after you told me about the centurion, I began to wonder about this teacher named Jesus. When I heard he was at the Temple, teaching in the Court of the Gentiles, I went to hear him. I was very careful to disguise myself and went with Hotep and Joanna. Chuza also went along as protection for me—”

“You went to hear that rabble-rouser at the Temple? Did I not warn you to be careful for your safety? How could you do such a thing? I would have forbidden it!”

“Dear Lucius, had you forbidden me, of course I would have obeyed you. I went only in desperation.”

He took her arm and led her almost angrily up the stairs to their quarters. “We will discuss this in private without the ears of the servants.”

When they reached the room, Hotep did not have to be dismissed. She took one look at the thundercloud on the face of her master and fled. Doros was asleep on his bed, exhausted from the long day at the Temple and what had happened to him.

When the door closed behind Hotep, Lucius turned to Claudia. “I do not want you to go again and fill your head with false hopes. Our
son is crippled and you must accept that. I forbid you to go near the Temple again, do you understand me?”

“Yes, Lucius, I understand you, but first, may I show you something?”

She led him into their son’s room, went to the bed, and lifted the coverlet from Doros’s legs, then waited for the realization to dawn on her husband.

Lucius looked at the foot that had been so deformed and his eyes widened. Very slowly he reached out and touched the foot, now whole and healthy like other one. “By the gods, what happened—how did it—?”

“It wasn’t our gods, Lucius, it was the Teacher, Jesus, who healed his foot. He merely laid hands on the deformity and prayed to his God, and the foot became whole. I saw it happen. Doros ran to me, not with the wobble of a crippled boy but like a normal boy. No more will he suffer as he has.”

“Pater?” Doros opened his eyes and looked up at his father, his eyes wide with apprehension. Lucius broke. With a sob, he gathered his small son to his chest as tears ran down his cheeks.

Doros looked at his mother, not sure if he should cry also. Claudia saw his hesitation. His father was acting strangely.

Claudia’s heart soared as she looked at her husband’s face, stark with raw emotion. “It was the story of your centurion that gave me the courage to believe that though I was a Roman, the Teacher’s God might have mercy on our son. It was a chance I had to take, even risking your anger.”

Doros, joyful at the attention of his father, wiggled out of his father’s arms and slipped to the floor, crying, “See me, Pater, see me!” He toddled around on his chubby legs, showing them how he could walk now.

Lucius swallowed and could only smile and nod. “I see, my son.” Then he turned to Claudia and took her in his arms. “You are far braver than I, wife of my heart. I must confess that I was jealous. I
have been gone so much with my duties as governor, and I thought you were seeing someone else.”

She put a hand on his face. “Oh, dear Lucius, there is no one but you. I have been talking with the gardener, Jeremiah, about the plants, and also having him tell me the history of the Jews. Joanna also has enlightened me on some of their customs. Since it is your task to govern the Jews while we are here, I felt it only natural that I, as your wife, should know more about them.”

Lucius shook his head and leaned down to kiss her. “I have married a wise woman.”

“You are no longer angry with me, my husband?”

He watched Doros walk across the room, pleased with his new foot. “How can I be angry? I am grateful to this God of the Jews for his mercy to us. I will not berate the Teacher again.” He looked toward the window. “Few people know of our son’s deformed foot. That is why I had you keep him in the palace.”

He walked over and put his hand on the head of his son. “We must act as if nothing has happened. I do not want to create problems. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“But Lucius, this is a wonderful miracle—”

He whirled around, his voice tense. “Claudia, do as I have bid you. I do not want you trailing around after this teacher like the steward’s wife.”

She fought down the words she wanted to say, and murmured only, “If you wish it, Lucius.” Was he forbidding her to hear Jesus again?

The change in her demeanor didn’t soften him. “I will make an offering to the gods for this great miracle. I will see you at dinner.”

With a last look at his son, and then her face, he strode quickly out of the room.

Claudia stared at the closed door. An offering to the gods? After he knew who had healed his son’s crippled foot? She sank down on a chair and put her face in her hands, trying to hold back the tears for the sake of her son.

A small hand patted her knee. “Mater? Are you sad, Mater?”

She forced a smile. “Oh, no, my love, I am very happy. I am happy about your foot.”

“I have a good foot, now, Mater.”

“Yes, Doros, you have a good foot now.”

The door opened again and she looked up suddenly. Had Lucius had a change of heart?

It was Hotep.

“Domina, I saw the dominae leave. Was he not happy about the child’s foot?”

“He was very happy, Hotep, but he does not believe in the Teacher as we do. He wants to give thanks to the Roman gods for the miracle. It is hard for him to change.”

“Will that not make the God of the Hebrews angry?”

Claudia considered that. “I have to believe he would understand, Hotep. I cannot fight Lucius.”

Doros sat down on the floor and studied his new foot. He touched each toe and patted the foot with his hand. “Jesus gave me a new foot. Jesus, Jesus,” he sang.

She shook her head in wonder. Doros at least had no doubts as to who healed him.

 35 

L
ucius had always been given to moods and she’d learned to leave him alone until he worked through whatever was bothering him. Sometimes he told her of his problem, but other times he preferred to keep it to himself. She hoped it was not her imagination, but Lucius seemed more moody than ever. There were times he would watch Doros play in the garden, and she sensed his inner turmoil. How did he reconcile his belief in his Roman gods with the miracle of the Jewish God? While she was anxious to talk with him about what she now believed with all her heart, she sensed it would only drive him further into himself.

At least when they went out in the coach, Doros was allowed to go with them instead of being left in their quarters with Hotep. It was obvious Lucius was proud of his son and anxious to show him off now, but if Doros tried to talk about Jesus, he was quickly cut off by his father. The boy was hurt and disappointed and, while silent, watched his father with sad eyes.

Claudia and Hotep prayed to the Lord God in their times alone and slipped out to see Jesus one more time to hear his teaching the week before Passover.

The people were coming into the city in droves as usual for this High Holy Day, and there was more shouting and singing than usual.
Claudia and Hotep took Doros along to watch Jesus enter the Holy City in triumph. He rode on a donkey and the people were spreading their clothes and flowers in his path. As the people proclaimed him a king and shouted their hosannas, Claudia felt the shadow of fear creep across her heart. There was no king but Caesar in the Roman world, and she wondered at this man of God who rode so regally, though it was only upon a donkey. He had the bearing of a king, and when she listened to the words the people were shouting, she feared for him.

Slipping back to the palace with Doros, she asked Chuza and Joanna to keep her informed on what was happening with the Teacher.

She paced the floor of their quarters, trying to understand this feeling of apprehension that gripped her. It was Joanna that brought her the first foreboding news.

“My lady, he has devastated the Temple! He entered and made a whip of cords and chased the money changers out. It was chaos. He overturned their trading tables, opened the cages of doves and let them go, then opened the pens for the lambs. People were picking up money until the Temple police arrived and drove them away. Animals were running everywhere . . .”

Claudia’s eyes widened. “This will not set well with the high priest and the other leaders.”

“No, it won’t. They wanted to arrest him, but the people were cheering him, so they could not without causing a riot.”

“Oh, Joanna. I fear he has created danger to himself. To teach is one thing, and heal the sick, but to openly defy the Pharisees is reckless. Did he give a reason for all this?”

Joanna nodded. “He said, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.’” She went on, “When the chief priests and scribes saw what he was doing and heard the people crying out, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant. When they objected, the Teacher merely said, ‘Have you never read, “Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants, You have perfected praise”’?”

‘What a strange thing to say. Did the leaders not arrest him?”

“No, my lady. They were angry, but they stalked away. I think they feared the people. They believe he is the Messiah, the promised king.”

Claudia listened and her heart was heavy. If the Jewish leaders did not arrest him, the Roman soldiers no doubt would. Her emotions were in turmoil. To believe in him as the Son of the Living God and to follow his teaching was one thing. To challenge Caesar as a king was another.

Joanna hurried away to her other duties, and Claudia went to the window and stared out at the city a long time.

Hotep brought Doros back from the garden and took him to his small room adjoining their quarters for his nap. They had discovered the room by accident, turning a carved flower attached to the wall. It turned out to be a handle and opened to a lovely sunlit room, perfect for a nursery. Because the thick stone walls muffled any sounds from Claudia’s room, Hotep was moved in to share the other room with her small charge.

At their evening meal, Lucius joined her but was obviously angry. He reclined on his couch in a huff and glared at her.

“Your Teacher nearly caused a riot in the city today. You should have seen the grand procession. Fools shouting, ‘Hosanna to the king!’” He sneered and flung one hand in the air. “Don’t you know he could be accused of treason?”

She faced him calmly. “Joanna told me what happened. The Jewish leaders could have arrested him and they didn’t. I don’t think he meant any harm.”

“No harm? Claudia, he entered the city as though he were a king! My sources say the people view him as the Messiah. If the people proclaim him as such, how do I explain this to the emperor?”

“Were the people not just excited? He has healed so many.” She waited for him to realize what she did not say.

His shoulders slumped. “Yes, he healed our son. I have not forgotten.” Then he suddenly pounded his fist into his palm. “But I must have order in this city. That is my job. I cannot risk further confrontation with the Jews. Tiberius has ordered me to respect their beliefs.”

“You had word from the emperor?”

“After the incident with the banners.”

“You never mentioned that.”

“I feared a recall to Rome for a while, but nothing further was said, and I’m still here. I didn’t want to worry you.”

She put a hand on his arm. “Oh, dear Lucius, how you must have worried over that.”

He smiled at her then. “Always soothing words from you, beloved. What would I do without you?”

She gave him a saucy look. “I hope you never have to find out.”

Doros wanted to see Jesus again, but after the incident in the Temple, Claudia did not feel it was safe for her to go again. Yet her hunger to hear his teaching won out, and while Joanna agreed there was danger, she also wanted to hear him. Chuza was persuaded to go with them as before, but Doros was left at home.

She didn’t tell Doros where she was going, only that if he was good and minded Hotep, she would bring him a sweet from the marketplace.

The three stole quietly through the throngs in the city, Claudia’s face well-covered by her heavy stola. Chuza led them through some back streets and Claudia prayed for safety and that she would not be recognized.

Jesus had returned to the Temple in the morning and was teaching as usual. As the crowd settled down to listen, Joanna recognized the disciples and some of the other women who followed Jesus. Claudia was introduced to Susanna and a woman called Mary from the city of Magdala, but only as “Procula,” Claudia’s family name, which she seldom used. For the first time she heard herself referred to as a Godfearer and believer.

The eyes of the two Jewish women held curiosity, but they asked no questions and finally moved on to greet other believers and some of the disciples of Jesus.

Claudia, Joanna, and Chuza slipped into the shadows of a large pillar to listen unobtrusively. As Jesus began to teach, some of the chief priests and elders confronted him.

“By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?”

Jesus answered, “I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: the baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

The leaders reasoned among themselves, their voices low but fierce as they sought an answer. Finally they turned to Jesus. “We do not know.”

Jesus sighed. “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

He spoke to them in parables, and sometimes Claudia had to strive in her mind to understand his point.

Now he was speaking of wicked vinedressers who were to care for a vineyard for a certain landowner. When he sent servants to receive the harvest, his servants were beaten, stoned, and killed. Finally he sent his son, thinking they would respect him, but the wicked vinedressers, knowing this was the heir, killed the son to seize his inheritance. Jesus looked around at the crowd. “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”

One of the priests answered, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.” As the crowd digested those words, Jesus spoke directly to the Jewish leaders. “Have you never read in the Scriptures,

“‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.’?

“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls
on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

Claudia realized that he was speaking directly of the chief priests and Pharisees, and she watched their faces as they listened. One priest’s face was almost purple with anger and outrage.

Jesus faced the multitude in the courtyard and also his disciples gathered nearby. “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen of men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogue, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi,’ for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, he who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant, and whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in . . .”

As Jesus went on, berating the scribes and Pharisees, Claudia looked around, expecting the Temple police to appear at any moment to arrest the Teacher for his vehement scolding of the leaders. The disciples also looked uncomfortable and surreptitiously glanced around. She reasoned that they were thinking the same thing she was.

“Joanna,” she whispered. “How can he get away with such words?”

“They fear the people,” Joanna whispered back.

When Jesus finished his rant against the scribes and Pharisees, they turned and plowed back through the crowd, their eyes flashing against anyone in their way and their jaws clenched in anger.

Oh, dear Lord, please be careful
, she pleaded in her mind. She turned to Chuza and whispered again, “What will they do? He has greatly angered them.”

Chuza shook his head and answered softly, “He speaks the truth, but they do not wish to hear. They will retaliate, but I fear it will not be when he is in front of the crowds.”