Mark 13 Footnotes

13:30 “These things” that will happen in “this generation” are the events surrounding the destruction of the temple, about which the disciples asked (vv. 1-4). The temple was destroyed forty years after the prophecy of Jesus, well within the lifetime of many of those present. Jesus, however, also talked about events surrounding his second coming (in vv. 14-27, though some scholars admit only vv. 24-27 or v. 32). The two events are spoken of together because the terror of the first-century Roman invasion of Palestine was viewed as representing the terror of the days leading to the coming of the Son of Man (vv. 7-8). Matthew’s version of this prophecy makes the point more explicitly (Mt 24:2).