The word, "miracle," and the experience of the miraculous, is in no way confined to Biblical times or the first century.  The word, "miracle," and the experience of the miraculous, is very much part of our modern world and our everyday lives.  In spite of all the technological advances and scientific sophistication that is part of the modern world, the word, "miracle," is still very much part of our contemporary vocabulary and the experience of the miraculous is very much part of our everyday lives.

Let me illustrate.  You open the refrigerator door and you pull out a jar of Miracle Whip, a mayonnaise that spreads so nicely across your bread.  Or you pull out a small, flat bag and put it into the microwave, and "wallah!," it puffs up and you have instant popcorn, and you say, "What a miracle!" .....   You go out to the garden and you pour Miracle Grow onto your plants and they flourish so splendidly,  thanks to Miracle Grow.  ... A rocket is shot up into the air and a man for the first time plants a footprint on the moon, and everybody called it a miracle. ... It wasn't that many years ago that penicillin was discovered and everyone called it a miracle drug.  Soon after that, in the early 1950s, Dr. Salk discovered the Salk vaccine to vaccinated against polio and all of our parents said it was a miracle,  that children didn't have to fear polio any more. And more recently, the smallpox vaccinate was given to children throughout the whole earth and there is not one case of smallpox anywhere on the globe and everybody would agree that is a miracle.  And when a vaccination or the equivalent is discovered for cancer or cancers, the headlines will shout for joy:  "Miracle drug found for cancer!"  ... There was a car accident the other day and the body of the car was totally smashed, and those who saw the car exclaimed:  "It is a miracle that anyone came out of that car alive."  ...  Births and adoptions often evoke the word, miracle.  A baby is born, and the parents almost automatically say, "This is a miracle," and the parents who have been struggling with infertility for five, ten, or fifteen years, when their child is born, truly believe that their child is a miraculous gift from God.

The word, "miracle," and the experience of the miraculous is very much part of our modern lives, even in a scientific age.  Our intuitive definition of a miracle isn't so much "magic happened" or natural laws were violated; but that the sequence of events and timing of events convince us that God has intervened and saved us or helped us.  And miracles are very much part of our lives.