Getting to Know Jesus' Passion #6

Jesus finally gets around to answering the question the disciples had asked earlier: 

20 “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, 22 for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. 23 Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled."

Many there hearing Jesus would still be alive to witness the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army. Some did head for the mountains for a stand-off there; many were savagely killed; and those who survived were scattered all over the world for centuries.  The temple has never been rebuilt since. This is not what they had followed Jesus into Jerusalem to hear, but it fits in what Jesus had been saying, and what Luke is recording: It is God's plan to include Gentiles in His Kingdom, and it is not Rome that is in charge of human history; it is God who was going to use Rome to judge Israel for her rejection of the Messiah.