No, but they didn't preach a monarchy good news either. We can gain some insight into human frailty by this line from FOYLE'S WAR: "Thinking about killing someone and actually killing someone are two completely different frames of mind."
Something like this swept the disciples, first expressed by Peter. 'this will never happen to you, Lord.' Hearing about his death, and stepping into the actual occurence of it are two different things.
I'm convinced they might have tried to prevent it; it was hidden until the Spirit could help them assimilate it after the resurrection; the Spirit itself is a gift to help the mission succeed.
More psycho babble, talk show opinions, about opinions, about opinions on opinions, speculations, musings, humanism, until you are a twisted zel, and tangled in a ball of yarn, and strings, and ropes, and neurons...........