So also marks the comparison. In the same way people can tell from the first shoots of green on trees after the winter that summer is coming, so Jesus’ followers will know from all the signs he has just talked about in the previous verses that the Son of Man is soon to come. Good News Translation “In the same way” is a good model.
The pronoun you is emphatic in the Greek sentence construction: “And as for you, when you see….”
All these things may refer to all the events of verses 15-31, or else the reference may be limited to either the events of verses 15-28 or those of verses 29-31. But the greening of the branches and the putting forth of leaves are both preliminary to the main event, which is the coming of the summer (verse 32). Thus it is hardly likely that all these things could possibly include or be limited to the coming of the Son of Man (verses 29-31), which is the main event in the series of end-time happenings. The reference is then best taken to include only the preliminary events of verses 15-28, and its goal is to warn the believers to act wisely when they realize that the fall of Jerusalem is very close. In the translation itself, however, it may be impossible to make the reference specific. “Those things I told you about” may be the best translation one can render.
He is near may also be translated “the time is near” (see Good News Translation). The problem is that the Greek text is without an expressed subject, thereby leaving open the possibility for either interpretation. As one may expect, the translations vary in the way in which they handle the text: New English Bible has “that the end is near, at the very door” with a marginal reading “that he is near,” while Jerusalem Bible has “that he is near, at the very gates,” with a footnote “the Son of Man coming to establish his Kingdom.”
Translators who accept the interpretation he is near may have either “that he is waiting nearby to come” or “he is nearby, like someone at the gate waiting to come in.” Most translators, however, will follow the interpretation of Good News Translation, “the time is near,” and translate either “the time when this age will end is very close” or “the time for the new age is near, ready to begin.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .