The period immediately after Easter Day is known as “The Great 50 Days”. Easter is not just one day; it is 50 days. It takes us 40 days to prepare for it – Lent – and 50 days to celebrate it – The Great 50 Days.
Why do we spend so much time on Easter? As St Paul puts it: “If Christ has not been raised from the dead, our faith is in vain.” Everything depends on the rising of Jesus from the dead. Nobody saw him rise, but what they did find was an empty tomb on that first Easter morning. Proof that was enough for the disciples should be proof enough for us too.
These great 50 days of Easter have a lot of things going on in them. We read from the Acts of the Apostles almost every day in the liturgy. In those readings we hear again and again about the exploits of our forebears in the faith as they tried to work out who they were, what was to be their mission and calling, how they could be faithful to what they believed about Jesus Christ being raised from the dead.
We see this reflected in those who are baptised and received into the church at Easter and we can take a lesson from it for ourselves. The Great 50 Days are a time for us to deepen our own faith.
In Medieval times there was a lovely old custom during The Great 50 Days of telling jokes. People did this because Jesus Christ played the ultimate trick on the Devil when he rose from the dead. He overcame sin, suffering and death and put the Devil back in his place. That’s what our ancestors in the faith believed and they celebrated every day by telling each other jokes!
So, in these Great 50 Days of Easter, be happy, rejoice, celebrate every day, deepen your faith and tell some jokes! Jesus Christ was the first to rise from the dead. If he didn’t, our faith is in vain. But by saying with conviction that he was the first to rise from the dead, those who do our best to follow him will rise with him too.