Matthew the believer and theologian takes seriously the importance of Jesus' words to that first generation of disciples. But Matthew the Gospel writer and apologist to the second generation audience of Christians also takes seriously the needs and questions of his readers. To this end then we need to compare Jesus' words in Matthew 24:34 with his confession in 24:36. In verse 34 Jesus predicts that the events which will immediately precede the parousia of the Son of Man will occur before those listening to his words have passed away. There is no doubt about the purposefully temporal reference Jesus makes - the first generation of Christians are to expect all the events surrounding the Son of Man's coming in their lifetimes.

But even as Matthew takes care to record these words of Jesus, he…