sequence of events that will end with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. The point this passage makes comes in three stages: First, nobody knows exactly when this will be, only that it will be within a generation (verse 36). Second, life will go on as normal right up to the last minute. That’s the point of the parallel with the time of Noah. Until the flood came to sweep everything away, ordinary life was carrying on with nothing unusual. Third, it will divide families and work colleagues