PMike you wrote:But in context the word genea is not once if I remember correctly ever speaking of race.
Well, Pmike, I will attempt to refresh your memory. In each case, the word "generation" is the translation of "genea". Jesus said:
Case 1
"But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children,
and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’ "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." Matthew 11:16-19
Now let's see. What is the context? To whom was Jesus speaking? Was he addressing the whole generation of his contemporaries? Matth 10:1 indicated that he was teaching and preaching in
their cities. Whose cities would that be? The cities of the Jews, of course. For Jesus said that he was sent only to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. So "this generation" refers to the people of the Jews, not to all people everywhere who lived in those days.
Case 2
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You."
But He,responded,and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. Matthew 12:38,39
Who is this evil and adulterous generation who craved a sign? Clearly Jesus is addressing the scribes and the Pharisees. They ask for a sign (miracle). They are the evil and adulterous generation. Certainly not the whole generation of people living at the time. Gentiles would have no concept of "the sign of Jonah the prophet."
Case 3
"The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. Matthew 12:41
Let's see. Would Jesus have been referring to the whole generation of people living in that day? But why would the men of Ninevah stand up at the judgment and condemn
that generation? Was that generation any more wicked that any other generation before or since?
No, the men of Ninevah will stand up and condemn the scribes and pharisees, supposedly leaders of Israel, but who were wicked, and rejected the Messiah whom God has sent to them, and the people whom they taught in the synagogues who also rejected him.
Case 4
When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him."
And Jesus responded and said, "You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me." Matthew 17:14-17
In this case, Jesus directly
addresses the "unbelieving and perverted generation".
To whom was he talking? To people in general who lived in that day? Not at all. He was addressing "the crowd", a crowd consisting entirely of Jewish people --- people who rejected him as Messiah.
He came to his own place and his own people did not receive him.
John 1:11
There are many other places in which "genea" clearly refers to the Jewish people of the day who had rejected the Messiah. But surely the above examples suffice.