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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
"This generation"	jessica	Monday, March 22, 2010
Question: The Olivet Discourse(Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) is a passage that i've read many times and I've instinctively understood that "this generation" Jesus spoke about was talking about a future generation, so I never really paid to much thought to it, till recently when I read a Jewish argument against the messiahship of Jesus claiming that he couldn't be the messiah because of this supposedly false prophecy... sooo i did some research on-line but I found nothing authoritative on the topic, I read a lot of defenses but they all sound like clever excuses and not True sincere Apologetics... This has made me more anxious about the whole issue. I really don't trust any apologetic outside of the Catholic Church, for obvious reasons, but I haven't been able to find anything on this topic from a catholic point of view or even a seriously theological point of view. I'm a fan of your site since i've found many of your answers very helpful to my faith. I love Jesus and the catholic church so dearly that I'm terrified of losing my faith I can't imagine my life without them ... please help me, not only with your response, which are always very informative and insightful, but also with your prayer of intercession for me before our heavenly father; that He me enlighten the current darkness that surrounds my faith. May God bless you and keep you faithful to your vocation.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Jessica: Be not afraid. Remember that Jesus personally founded the Catholic Church and gave her the authority to teach the faith accurately. No matter how other groups try, they do not have the fullness of the Faith that is contained in the Catholic Church. This veracity is found in the Church's dogma, doctrine, and authoritative teachings and in its Biblical interpretations. The Catholic Church is the guardian of the Bible, Sacred Tradition, and of the Faith, given that authority by God Himself. As with all things Biblical, any passage must be taken in the context of what the writer is talking about. In Matthew 24:34 when Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place" he was talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was, in fact, destroyed within the generation of the people he was talking to (A.D. 70). But, there is more than the local and immediate events. The destruction of Jerusalem to which Jesus spoke is also a symbol of the end of the world (the theme of chapter 24). Thus, as explained by the Navarre Bible Commentary, one of the best Catholic commentaries available: [This generation] refers firstly to the people alive at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. But since the event is symbolic of the end of the world, we can can with St. John Chrysostom (Homily on St. Matthew, 77) that "the Lord was speaking not only of the generation then living, but also of the generation of believers; for he knows that a generation is distinguished not only by time but by its mode of religious worship and practice: this is what the Psalmist means when he says that 'such is the generation of those who seek him' (Ps. 24:6). This Biblical understanding of "generation", as defined in Psalms 24:6, means that the current generation is nearly 2000 years old; the current generation began in A.D. 33 on Pentecost. Thus, "this generation will not pass away until ...." means that the era (generation) of the Christian Church will not pass away until all "these things take place". That means, that Church (generation), which began in A.D. 33, will still be the Church (generation) at the end of the world. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

"This generation"

jessica

Monday, March 22, 2010

Question:

The Olivet Discourse(Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) is a passage that i've read many times and I've instinctively understood that "this generation" Jesus spoke about was talking about a future generation, so I never really paid to much thought to it, till recently when I read a Jewish argument against the messiahship of Jesus claiming that he couldn't be the messiah because of this supposedly false prophecy... sooo i did some research on-line but I found nothing authoritative on the topic, I read a lot of defenses but they all sound like clever excuses and not True sincere Apologetics...

This has made me more anxious about the whole issue. I really don't trust any apologetic outside of the Catholic Church, for obvious reasons, but I haven't been able to find anything on this topic from a catholic point of view or even a seriously theological point of view. I'm a fan of your site since i've found many of your answers very helpful to my faith. I love Jesus and the catholic church so dearly that I'm terrified of losing my faith I can't imagine my life without them ... please help me, not only with your response, which are always very informative and insightful, but also with your prayer of intercession for me before our heavenly father; that He me enlighten the current darkness that surrounds my faith.

May God bless you and keep you faithful to your vocation.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Jessica:

Be not afraid. Remember that Jesus personally founded the Catholic Church and gave her the authority to teach the faith accurately. No matter how other groups try, they do not have the fullness of the Faith that is contained in the Catholic Church. This veracity is found in the Church's dogma, doctrine, and authoritative teachings and in its Biblical interpretations. The Catholic Church is the guardian of the Bible, Sacred Tradition, and of the Faith, given that authority by God Himself.

As with all things Biblical, any passage must be taken in the context of what the writer is talking about. In Matthew 24:34 when Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place" he was talking about the destruction of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was, in fact, destroyed within the generation of the people he was talking to (A.D. 70).

But, there is more than the local and immediate events. The destruction of Jerusalem to which Jesus spoke is also a symbol of the end of the world (the theme of chapter 24).

Thus, as explained by the Navarre Bible Commentary, one of the best Catholic commentaries available:

[This generation] refers firstly to the people alive at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. But since the event is symbolic of the end of the world, we can can with St. John Chrysostom (Homily on St. Matthew, 77) that "the Lord was speaking not only of the generation then living, but also of the generation of believers; for he knows that a generation is distinguished not only by time but by its mode of religious worship and practice: this is what the Psalmist means when he says that 'such is the generation of those who seek him' (Ps. 24:6).

This Biblical understanding of "generation", as defined in Psalms 24:6, means that the current generation is nearly 2000 years old; the current generation began in A.D. 33 on Pentecost.

Thus, "this generation will not pass away until ...." means that the era (generation) of the Christian Church will not pass away until all "these things take place". That means, that Church (generation), which began in A.D. 33, will still be the Church (generation) at the end of the world.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary