Faith writes:
It makes no sense to read it to mean he was referring to the final coming of the Kingdom.
Yes it does. It's the straightforward meaning of the words. Not only that, it was what those that heard him say it at the time also thought it meant.
You give away your 'logic' with this:
You assume Jesus was talking about the final coming of the Kingdom but since that didn't happen we know that is not what he was talking about.
The simple fact is that he claimed that the second coming was imminent and it wasn't. The conclusion is that the claim was wrong, not that everybody at the time and ever since misinterpreted what he said. It's not like it's a matter of no importance - a trivial detail. It's the biggest announcement ever made by anybody ever and yet he fucks up the message? "Sorry, I misspoke." Not remotely credible.
Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed. Je suis Juif.
Life, don't talk to me about life - Marvin the Paranoid Android
"Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.
Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved."
- Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.