By Tom Jenkins on 3/24/2008 1:42 PM

            This past week my lone-surviving aunt died. She was my father’s youngest sister, the last member of his immediate family. Monique, my daughter, said her great aunt’s death marked the passing of an era. We are all diminished by the death of someone we love. Doors to the past are closed; opportunities to spend a little more time together are lost; and often we are left with words we wish we had said.

            My aunt was a Christian. I claim for her the promise of life beyond life, the hope of the Christian Gospel. Our hope is based on historical fact. Jesus rose from the grave and was seen in his resurrection body by several hundred people (I Corinthians 15). These people were eyewitnesses to Christ’s resurrection. The best method for verifying an event is the testimony of eyewitnesses. Our hope in the resurrection does not emerge from misty-eyed hope, but from verifiable fact. The exclamation of the angel at the empty tomb is the Amen to our belief: “He is not here; he is risen.”

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