What do you see? A table with oranges and lemons, a bowl of apples. To the side, there is what looks like a large basket or bowl with a printed pattern, balancing that, there is an angular vase with what, I think, is a Japanese design. An empty wine glass draws our gaze to the centre of the painting.

The clue to understanding this painting is to know that Cezanne did not paint what he saw but interpreted what he saw in the light of his deeply held religious beliefs. The world that we see may look random and sometimes chaotic, but underneath, there is harmony and order, balance and beauty.

It may be just my imagination, but I see the Japanese vase and decorated bowl as speaking to this understanding of nature. The Japanese garden is a distillation of perfect forms designed to lead us to look beneath the surface of things to their inner reality. It is a place to meditate on the harmony of nature. It is that inner reality captured in a random collection of fruit that makes this painting a statement of Cezanne’s belief in the beauty of all things.

What did Thomas the doubter see? Clearly, he saw what was in front of him, the figure of Jesus, still displaying his wounded head, hands, feet, and side. It spoke to him of his complicity in the death of Jesus, his responsibility with the other disciples who deserted him. It would have been a bit like the encounter between Macbeth and the ghost of Banquo. The guilt and pain of Jesus' betrayal would have been too much for Thomas to bear.

Desperate

The disciples were desperate men and women after the crucifixion. Hiding way for fear of the mob and the religious police, but desperate, too, because all their hope and dreams were now gone.

Disillusioned.

They were also disillusioned men and women. Yes, Jesus to them seemed like a fraud. He had promised so much and achieved so little. To Thomas, maybe these stories of a risen Jesus seemed just a little too much like wish fulfilment.

Doubters.

The death of Jesus had made the teaching of Jesus seem like empty rhetoric. The new life he had talked about was not stronger than death, and now the disciples had to face up to their meaningless existence. They were all doubters, and the last person they expected to meet was Jesus.

Thomas the Doubter.

It wasn’t because the men didn’t believe, it was because they didn’t dare to believe. They had tried it all before and failed. Why should they now believe the words of the women who had come from the tomb? They were all doubters, but Thomas was given that name because he wanted explanations.

He wanted to believe, he wished it were true, but how can you start again when everything you trusted has collapsed around you?

Fresh Eyes.

I believe he needed to see Jesus with fresh eyes. A bit like looking at our picture for a second time. Despite his own sense of failure, his disillusionment, Thomas’s feelings of guilt, as for the other disciples, were not so much the sight of the risen Jesus, but of the wounded hands, feet, and side of the risen Jesus.

The wounds of Jesus

When Jesus first appeared to the disciples, we read that he showed them his hands and side, and when he met with Thomas, he said:

“Put your fingers here, see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe” John 20:27

It was the sight of the wounds that transformed the doubting Thomas and inspired him to say:

“ My Lord and my God”

Martin Luther once said, “If you want to understand Christianity, you must start with the wounds of Christ.”

Acceptance

What was it that these wounds said? A few days beforehand, they said death and defeat. They were evidence of man’s evil and death’s power. But now, as Thomas looked, those same wounds said something quite different.

When Jesus showed Thomas his hands and his side, he did not say, “Look what you have done”. No, instead, he greeted Thomas with the words “Peace be with you.”

Because the wounds of Christ, which were and are the signs of our sin are also the signs of God’s wonderful love for us. His acceptance of us.

Authority

When Thomas saw the print of the nails in his hands and the gash that the spear had made in his side, he knew that the marks of defeat were in fact the signs of victory. Proof that God had conquered the powers of darkness and death and established His Kingdom of Peace.

Authenticity

As Thomas had seen the nails driven into the hands of Jesus, he had been tempted to believe all that Jesus had ever said was an illusion, but now he saw those wounds in a fresh light and he realised that they did not disprove all that Jesus had said but authenticated it.

He had asked for proof, and now he had it. He had it, not because he saw the risen Christ, but because he realised that the risen Christ was the crucified Christ and that the crucified Christ had made possible all that Jesus had spoken of, and promised.

‘So that you might believe’.

And so, John writes that ‘These things are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name’. John 20:31

Thomas was not the first doubter nor the last. Each day, our own failures condemn us. Each day, our hopes are dashed, our faith fades, and we are tempted to doubt. Each day we feel betrayed, let down by God, and tempted to doubt His word.

When we do, we need to focus on the wounds of Christ.

It is there that in our despair, we find acceptance.

It is there that in our disillusionment we will be reminded of God’s authority.

It is there that our doubts will turn to faith as we discover that Jesus will never fail us or forsake us.