text: I would say that the end of the age (not the world) did begin soon after His resurrection and ascension.  Within forty years the temple was destroyed and a kingdom destroyed; Christianity on the rise (and persecutions), Rome accelerating its decadent decline - all in short order after Jesus Advent.  That some thought that His physical second-coming was more immediate (as some still do), I would attribute more to human longing and self-contentedness than to any of the words from Jesus.
  I'm still not sure I get the "deep" v. "shallow" distinction.  Me being obtuse, I guess, but I would like to better understand what you are saying.