What's a firkin? Have your kids help you do the math to learn a wonderful lesson about Jesus!

In the miracle of Jesus changing water into wine, the Apostle John, who was there to witness the miracle, tells us that there were 6 stone waterpots containing 2-3 firkins apiece.  How much is a firkin?

In the Bible Dictionary it tells us that a firkin is a little more than a bath.  Hmmmm.  So how much is a bath?  About 8.25 gallons.  Therefore, a firkin, being a little more than a bath, would be about 9 gallons.

If each waterpot could hold 2-3 firkins, then each would hold 18 to 27 gallons, or to simplify, round those numbers up to 20-30 gallons.  If there were 6 waterpots, that would be 120-180 gallons of water turned into wine!

Were the waterpots full?  Yes.  Note that in verse 7 it says that they filled them up to the brim.

Note, also, that the governor of the feast said that this wine was better than the wine they had originally been served.

So Jesus, starting with plain water, provided the wedding guests with 120 to 180 gallons of the highest quality wine!

What does that tell us about Jesus?  Is He stingy or generous?  Is He a God of scarcity or abundance?  When He answers our prayers, will He pour out blessings from the windows of Heaven so great that we shall not have room enough to receive them?

Sometimes we think that God wouldn't care about the things we care about because He has so many big worries like worlds and wars and wickedness.  But really, how important was it for those hosting the wedding to have enough wine to last until the end of their festivities? 

If it's important to us, it's important to the Lord!  And He answers us abundantly!

Sometimes we think He's not hearing our prayers or maybe He's decided to not answer us.  I think that in time we will find that He not only had heard our prayers, He was preparing an answer way bigger and way better than we could have imagined!