Thanks to a catchy Christmas carol, we all know about the Twelve Days of Christmas. But how about the Fifty Days of Easter? While not as well-known, the season lasting the seven weeks between Easter Day and Pentecost is no less a joyous time in our church year. On Sunday mornings, Alleluias grace our opening acclamation and final dismissal. Festive music fills the air. The mood is cheerful, almost giddy. Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed. Alleluia!
            Even before the first Easter, this period was a special one for Israel. In Jerusalem, many of the pilgrims who came for Passover didn’t return home right away. That’s because they were required to revisit the Holy City for Pentecost anyway, and so they stayed the entire fifty days between the festivals. As a result, Jerusalem enjoyed nearly two months of continuous celebration each spring.
            For the first Christians, this season was even more a time of jubilation. The first forty days of Easter marked the time when the Risen Lord appeared repeatedly to the Apostles and others, up until the time of Christ’s Ascension. Ten days later, the Holy Spirit came down powerfully upon the 120 gathered in the upper room, leading them to evangelize 3,000 people on the spot. Many of these new converts were foreign pilgrims. When the festival of Pentecost ended, they returned home to scores of towns and cities scattered throughout the Roman Empire, taking the message of Christ with them. And so the Gospel spread like wildfire.
            This result reminds us that our season of Easter joy is not just a time to revel in Christ’s resurrection. It’s also a time to share that joy with others—to pass the flame along, as it has been passed to us across the centuries. And so our joy must be an infectious joy, one that finds us leading the resurrected life with all the enthusiasm of those early believers. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, their witness went on to change the world. The challenge is no less for us today.
            May this Easter season be a time of rejoicing for all of us, where our Alleluias truly come from the heart.  And may those Alleluias reach the ears of those around us, leading them to come and see what all this excitement is about.