How He died is important. The cross gave a logo to the Logos. As Archbishop Fulton Sheen put it; "By itself, the cross is an absurdity. It is the vertical symbol of life contradicted by the horizontal symbol of death. It is absurd until you superimpose Jesus on it." It is so simple, yet tells the entire story. Jesus didn't die peacefully in His sleep or suddenly to the executioners ax. He died the most gruesome and slow death the exceedingly cruel Roman Empire could imagine.
Crucifixion was a state sponsored terrorism tactic used to manage conquered peoples. So severe was it that it was prohibited as a punishment for Roman citizens. In the first century it was not some imaginary horror or symbolic concept, it was very real in every corner of the Roman Empire. It was so abhorrent that it was not directly discussed in Roman society and the early Christians rarely discussed it for several hundred years.
It was in its extremity that the glory of God's triumph was reflected. The Church, in an unprecedented propaganda coup, usurped the symbol of Rome's absolute power to condemn, punish and kill, and converted it into its own triumphant symbol of love, forgiveness and life.
Embracing the cross was, as one theology professor stated, giving the finger to Rome and the Emperor to the extent that it was largely prohibited. It was kept alive through graffiti and in hidden Churches until the Emperor Constantine saw the symbol in the sky and embraced it.
Nicely stated.