THE WRONG DIAGNOSIS

Jesus had finished his doctrine that He taught the multitude; now the same multitude followed Him and He showed to them His miracles. The first one was the leper:

¹ When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. ² And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him, saying, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” ³ And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, “I will; be thou clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. (Mat 8:1-3)

The leper had a skin issue — an issue of the flesh. From the root Greek word, “lepra” the man’s flesh was peeling off in scales. Lepers were considered unclean and quite contagious although modern medicine has since learned that it is not so.

The Law of Moses addressed that man quite well:

⁴⁴ He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head. ⁴⁵ And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, “Unclean, unclean.” ⁴⁶ All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be. (Lev 13:44-46)

What should Jesus have done according to the Law if Jesus had been just any Jewish man? He would have shunned the man, scorned him, and reminded him of the Law. That man was breaking the Law and the pharisaical “politically correct” would have severely punished him, although the man had done nothing wrong, saying only, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Do not punish me, he was thinking, heal me!

The Law said, “his plague is in his head.” What does that mean? Plague therein comes from the root word in Hebrew “naga’,” meaning that he was stricken, or that some thing had touched him (Strong 2006). Indubitably, they were implying that leprosy was because of sin and was God’s punishment for sinning. The root verb of the word, head, means “shaking.” (ibid).

The Jews thought that leprosy was not only of the flesh but of the mind as well. This may seem extreme, but dead flesh, according to the Law, was required to be cast into a fire as a sin offering to God (Exod 29:14). The man was implying, Don’t burn me, save me!

Ironically, if leprosy had truly been brought on by sin, then rather than cry “Unclean! Unclean!” they should have asked God to make the leper clean.

Jesus was thought to be “beside Himself” (Mark 3:21); that like the leper, the “plague” of Jesus was in His head as well; that Jesus had the Devil in Him (Mat 12:24). The penalty for Jesus required punishment, but rather than the self-righteous ones screaming “Unclean! Unclean!” they screamed “Crucify Him! Crucify Him” (Luke 23:21)!

According to the historian, Josephus, death on the cross was a “holocaust” in the lexicon of the Jews. The holocaust was the burnt offering of the flesh. The dead flesh of a leper, theoretically, should have been burnt, but rather, the leper was isolated from the community, many of them forever. If they were made clean, then the burning was by the fleshes of other kinds.

How was the crucifixion a holocaust? It may be a stretch, but maybe not! Jesus was thought to have the Devil in Him. His flesh was dead and should have been burned.

Now consider Judas who had Satan really enter him (Luke 22:3). Once Judas was dead, just like Jesus was thought to be — dead on a “tree” — he was buried in Gehenna, the entryway to Hell as it symbolizes. The self-sacrifice of Judas because he had sinned, was a “holocaust” — a burnt offering, although neither was Judas physically burnt. The burning was in his head, or “vicariously.”

The holocaust of Jesus was not from a physical fire, but they possibly thought that they were sending “Satan” in Jesus to Gehenna. For the multitude, it was a holocaust because Jesus was the dead flesh that would be destined for Hell. They accused Jesus of being unclean, albeit it was Judas. (The Muslims still believe that, and someday Isa, their Jesus, will return with a vengeance, obviously for the wrong holocaust of the flesh of Judas.)

The leper should have been isolated until he was clean; no longer would there be sin in his head. That implies that while isolated, the leper would ask for God to cleanse him of his sin, and his flesh would be healed. That makes sense because of the “Law of the Leper”:

² This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest: ³ And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; ⁴ Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: ⁵ And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water…” (Lev 14:2-5)

The Law was merciful. The leper would be isolated for his mind to be made clean; that would heal the dying flesh. The priest would go to the leper and diagnose him. If there were no scales of flesh to be sacrificed in thanks to the healing of both the mind and the flesh, the priest was to offer two live birds, clean, along with cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. Then the priest would command the one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel, and the other made clean and released.

That is what happened to the two of the three “jail birds” at the crucifixion — one was sacrificed and the other made free, but the thank offering would be much different:

¹² And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord: ¹³ And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering is the priest's… ¹⁹ And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering.” (Lev 14:12-13, 19)

That is what the priest would do for the leper, but what was it that the High Priest commanded to be done at the holocaust of Jesus? Treat Him as the leper. The Priest offered the lamb and Pilate offered the jail birds. One of the two “birds” was sacrificed and the another set free (Barabbas). The Lamb of God was the to be the burnt offering for sin in general. Hence, the sacrifice of Jesus was a burnt offering — a “holocaust” — that maybe was intended to be burned.

That hypothesis remains unproven because the priests did not steal the body from the tomb as suspicioned, possibly for burning, but Jesus did not remain dead; he walked out alive. I submit that the Jews, just like Jesus, was mean to be a holocaust according to the Law.

The Law killed Jesus, but God cannot be killed. Jesus was not made a burnt offering because he was the Living Sacrifice that need not be burned because His Flesh was pure and even His Mind was without sin!

Jews believe that the Torah has nothing to do with Jesus, but every “Word” therein is about Jesus. John revealed that to the world (John 1:1-14).

Jesus was sacrificed because his malady was of the mind... He thought He was God! For the priest, He was to be treated according to the Law of the Leper.

Josephus wrongly thought that the sacrifice of Jesus was a burnt offering — a “Holocaust.” Why would he think that? Because the tomb of Jesus was empty. The Jews would, like Josephus, believe that the Chief priests — the two of them — rolled back the stone, stole the body of Jesus, and burned it in the fiery pit called “Gehenna.” 

Without proof, my bet is that Jews, much like the Arabs, believe that Judas was Jesus because there were two “crucifixions” of “Satan” that day and one was a Holocaust.

(picture credit; Wellcome Collection; "Leper")