The Tao and Cross

The “Jesus, son of Joseph” has inscribed in its side, just to the left of the barely legible script, a clear “X” mark in front of the name. Archaeologists suggest it is a mason’s mark. We disagree. “Mason marks” on ossuaries are that show how the lids are to fit on ossuaries. There must be a corresponding mason’s mark on Jesus’ lid for this to be a mason’s mark.

And the fact is that, since the time of Ezekiel, over five hundred years before Jesus, the “X” and its rotated form, the cross, was a mark signifying righteousness. Ezekiel 9:3-4 states: “And the Lord said to him [Ezekiel], go through the midst of the city, through the centre of Jerusalem, and set a ‘Tao’ on the foreheads of the men that sigh and cry because of the abominations that are done in the heart of the city.”

The “Tao,” or X, is also known as the “Taw” is the last letter of both the Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets.

It’s called “Taf” in Hebrew, “Tao” in Aramaic. The name literally means “mark”! It signifies the end of the road, perhaps also a new beginning.

Why then do archaeologists dismiss the “Tao” in the “Jesus, son of Joseph” inscription as nothing more than a mason’s mark?

Jesus calls himself a living “Tao.” In Revelation (22:13), Jesus says: “I am the ‘Alpha’ and the ‘Omega’,” i.e., I am the beginning and the end, since “Alpha” and “Omega” are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. But Jesus spoke in Hebrew and Aramaic, not Greek. He would have actually said: “I am the ‘Aleph’ and the ‘Tao.’”

For nearly six hundred years the last letter – the “Tao” – had served as the sign of the righteous. Most archaeologists assume incorrectly that the cross as a Christian symbol begins with the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century CE. Before that, they say, the symbol indicating Christianity was the fish.

However, this is not the case. Crosses are referred to by Church fathers such as Tertulian and Origen, over one hundred years before Constantine.

The cross may very well have been a sign used by the followers of Jesus to indicate the Righteous path. The fact that the instrument of his death was shaped like a Tao could only have added to the mystique of the symbol over time.