claims and references
Jesus made many claims. He made different references to himself. Some of these claims were according to how the people perceived him. They perceived him to me a prophet so he referred to himself as a prophet. They cast aspersions on him as being a drunkard and a gluttonous man, so he referred to himself as a drunkard and a gluttonous man. The Jews presumed to take offense that Jesus, by implication, equated himself with God. The Jews rightly inferred his meaning, but they resisted his words, because as they said to him, he was just a man, so he referred to himself as a man.
There were other claims and references which were seemingly, for lack of a better term, nice, as in perfectly noncontroversial and harmless. One such reference which Jesus made about himself was, not just that he was a shepherd, but that he was the good shepherd. There was nothing noble or prestigious about being a shepherd or for anyone to liken themselves to a shepherd. Even so, this sounded good for the Jews. It was as anemic culturally as it was harmless.It sounds good for us today.
