what did they mean, what did Jesus mean in answering them, what did Matthew understand by it all—and what’s it got to say to us? This calls for a cool head and an attentive mind. For the moment we can begin to glimpse what Jesus thought it was all about. The disciples wanted to see him ruling as king, with all that that would mean, including the Temple’s destruction and, indeed, the ushering in of God’s new age. The present age would come to its convulsive conclusion, and the new age would be born.