Walter Williams was not only dead, he was already in a body bag awaiting embalming at the local mortuary…and then he started moving! The county coroner, Dexter Howard had two reactions:
“The only reasonable explanation he could think of, Howard said, is that Williams’ defibrillator, implanted beneath the skin on his chest, jump-started his heart after he was placed in the body bag.
“It could’ve kicked in, started his heart back,” Howard said. “The bottom line is it’s a miracle.”
But is it really a miracle? Can something have a “reasonable explanation” and also be a miracle? For me the answer is clearly yes.
I can “reasonably explain” the process from conception to birth, but I still experienced the birth of each of our 3 daughters as genuinely miraculous. I can reasonably explain the process which creates the oceans and the starry nights I recently shared on a trip with my wife, but there too, I used the word miraculous. I can probably even reasonably explain the love I feel for my wife and children, but that too is miraculous in ways I try to remember each and every day.
What defines a miracle, for me at least, whether one attributes it to God or any particular supernatural power, is an event the experience of which cannot be fully explained by reason, and for which we are deeply grateful. The miraculous is the product of experiencing the powerful combination of our own limits and the limitless possibilities in life.
Walter Williams’ family knows all that, which is why they are not debating whether or not his resurrection, if you want to call it that, is a “real” miracle or not. They simply rejoice in the event, and imagine that whatever word helps to best capture their joy and gratitude is the one to use. For them, “miracle” is just fine.
What counts as miraculous for you? And if the answer is nothing, do you ever wonder about what may be lost when we live without any sense of the miraculous?
All I know is that fighting about definitions as opposed to embracing experiences is generally a waste of time, which is why I embrace miracles and the miraculous whenever I am able to encounter either.

Listed for many years in Newsweek as one of America’s “50 Most Influential Rabbis” and recognized as one of our nation’s leading “Preachers and Teachers,” by Beliefnet.com, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield serves as the President of Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, a training institute, think tank, and resource center nurturing religious and intellectual pluralism within the Jewish community, and the wider world, preparing people to meet the biggest challenges we face in our increasingly polarized world.
An ordained Orthodox rabbi who studied for his PhD and taught at The Jewish Theological Seminary, he has also taught the University of Pennsylvania, where he directs an ongoing seminar, and American Jewish University. Rabbi Brad regularly teaches and consults for the US Army and United States Department of Defense, religious organizations — Jewish and Christian — including United Seminary (Methodist), Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (Modern Orthodox) Luther Seminary (Lutheran), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (Conservative) — civic organizations including No Labels, Odyssey Impact, and The Aspen Institute, numerous Jewish Federations, and a variety of communal and family foundations.
Hirschfield is the author and editor of numerous books, including You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, writes a column for Religion News Service, and appears regularly on TV and radio in outlets ranging from The Washington Post to Fox News Channel. He is also the founder of the Stand and See Fellowship, which brings hundreds of Christian religious leaders to Israel, preparing them to address the increasing polarization around Middle East issues — and really all currently polarizing issues at home and abroad — with six words, “It’s more complicated than we know.”