I agree that the Jesus Sect or the People of the Way, as they were called, wasn't meant to be a new religion. But I think you argue that point ad nauseum- perhaps "not seeing the forest for the trees." It seems to me that rumination is where you go off the highway with a lot of speculation about where to go next. Simply put, the "forest" is Jesus, the fulfilment of the Law: "For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." - Matthew 5:18. So, I don't disagree with where you started, but rather the route you chose to go after.

By the by, Jesus' disciples were first called "Christians" at Antioch.