The Greek phrase is ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη. While genea can mean "family; clan; race," the word is always used by Jesus to denote "the men living at the time"—generation, contemporaries. Matthew first uses the term in 1.17 in the genealogies, and we can see Jesus' use of it in 11.16; 12.39, 41, 42, 45; 16.4; 17.7; and 23.26. These all give us clues as to how Matthew and Jesus use the word and what they mean by it. I'm not sure I can go with your theory. In none of these references does it refer to the Jewish people as a people.

I would translate "generation" as "race." It is not a slam dunk. But most of the races that were prominent in Jesus' day are extinct today. "The Jewish race will not be extinguished before...."

This statement of Jesus is too generic to pin down with any accuracy. There are a number of rather credible interpretations, but none of them has any certainty. To me the best of the field are:

1. That it applied to them (the disciples of AD 32) and was speaking of the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem in AD 70. Many of the prophetic elements in Matthew 24 could be talking about the Roman destruction that came then, so this could be talking about it as well. Many Bible scholars agree with this interpretation.

2. That it applies to the generation that will see the Great Tribulation, the abomination of desolation, and the 2nd coming of Christ. The idea is that the teaching is about that those people (the generation) who is around when all of the end times stuff starts will also still be around when it comes to completion—that the end times stuff is 7 years long, and those that are around for the beginning won't experience another gap, but it'll come in its fullness. Many of the prophetic elements of Mt. 24 seem to be clearly talking about his second coming, and so "this generation" is the generation of that event.

There are pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses of both of those interpretations, based on the neutral nature of Jesus' words. And there are other possibilities as well.

In either case, though, the conclusion is not that Jesus was not the messiah. In the first scenario, it came true just as he said; in the second scene, we are still waiting for that time to come.

"Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.”

This verse says that the apocalypse as described in Daniel was nigh for the generation Jesus preached to. Since that didn't happen (I would think 2,000 years is enough of a grace period), doesn't that mean Jesus was not the messiah? I can't see any other way of interpreting this verse.