Just ignore my post and respond with one out-of-context proof text.
Did you want more on "the kingdom of heaven"? Jesus inaugurated a spiritual kingdom, it was comprised of those who by faith believed in the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all mankind. It was a very different idea than the erroneous expectations of a Jewish Messiah who would destroy political Israel's enemies, take up David's corrupt, exaggerated seat and rule the earth.
The ideal of the kingdom of heaven IS spiritual, the king is the rule of the will of God in the hearts of ALL mankind.
In the wake of the failure for Jesus' early followers to understand and abide in the fellowship of Jesus' kingdom idea, the institution of the physical church and its religion about Jesus, became a substitute. Thus in concept they put the kingdom off into the future culminating in the "soon returning" Christ to do what the Messiah was supposed to have done in the first place. But their erroneous expectations were in vein, we are 2,000 years into "soon to return" and the sect divided, dyeing church stands as the single greatest obstacle to the original Gospel.
Jesus and his pre cross gospel:
» And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. (Matthew 4:23)
» Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15)
» [Jesus] said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent." (Luke 4:43)
The gospel that Jesus was preaching was not himself crucified for their sins.
After the death and resurrection, everything changed, the new gospel is about Jesus crucified and risen. Paul taught almost exclusively about the death and risen Christ as opposed to the victorious life of Jesus and how he lived it.
But there does seem to be something in the cross for every level of understanding and diverse interpretations, it may sound crude but it was a powerful marketing tool which Jesus did voluntarily pass through. That is the majesty of the divine management of destiny and his loving work on behalf of his children on earth.