Water into Wine
The Apostle John describes Jesus' turning water into wine in the wedding in Cana as the beginning of his miracles (see John 2:1–11). When the host of the wedding ran out of wine, Jesus' mother, Mary, told him of their plight. He objected, “Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come,” but undeterred, she told the servants to do whatever he said, and Jesus told them to fill six stone water pots, holding two or three firkins each, with water. That done, he then directed them to take some of the contents of the water pots to the governor of the feast, who, in turn, sent some to the bridegroom. Usually, everyone sets out the best wine in the beginning, with the poorer quality beverage saved for later, he declared, but this time the best has been kept for last; the water had turned into wine of the best quality.
factum
A firkin is said to be nine gallons, and there are four firkins to a barrel. Though hard evidence is no longer available for the location of Cana in New Testament times, tradition identifies it as located in the same site as the modern-day Israeli village Kefr' Kenna, approximately four to five miles from Nazareth.
Many have observed that God is always turning water, in the form of rainfall and irrigation, into wine by nature's turning the juice of grapes into wine. But the creator of the grape can bypass a few steps to make it happen more expeditiously when necessary.
Some take Jesus' words in response to Mary's request as suggesting a distancing between himself and his mother. But considering that he fulfilled her request exactly as she made it, by providing wine for the wedding, the whole miracle can be seen as a reward of Mary's faith. In that, she becomes the first of the believers in Jesus to bring about a miraculous event through her requests. And by seeing how Mary's faith was rewarded, the other disciples realized they could call forth similar power over nature, and by doing so confirm their faith.
