If the Apostles had "gotten it," Jesus would have lived on.

Jesus, as would any brother, would do whatever it took to
bring Our Father, Universal Love, to earth in our Hearts
that His Family, all of us, might live in the Kingdom
of Universal Love on earth.  The Apostles
weren't "getting it."  They all scattered and abandoned Him
when the soldiers came.  He knew they weren't "getting
it."  "Peter, do you Love me (agape)?"  "Like we were
brothers (filios)," Peter dumbly answered. 
Again, toward the end, "Get thee behind
me Satan," to Peter who he Loved.  "How much longer must
I be among you," to all the apostles, in utter frustration
with them, toward the end.

Had they been "getting it," Jesus could have used less
drastic measures than walking into certain death.  But they
weren't so He had to pull out the big gun - allowing Their
Heartlessness, Their Blindness, Their Deafness, Their
lack of Universal Love to kill him THAT THESE ERRORS,
THESE SINS MIGHT BECOME VISIBLE - THAT THEY MIGHT
REPENT, that is, HEAL THEMSELVES!  Which, reportedly,
some of them did.

Universal Love DIES for those who are suffering.  That's
what it does. Period.  When that Dying can BEST take place
over decades, it does so.  When what is required is going
out in a blaze of glory, the Crucifixion, it does so.

HOW MANY MORE SAINTS WILL YOU AND I CAUSE TO  DIE,
BEFORE WE WAKE UP  AND "GET IT," UNIVERSAL LOVE?