To fully appreciate Jesus' declaration of "I AM the Good Shepherd," we have to go back to the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, chapter 34. There we find the context of Jesus' statement, God's condemnation of the "bad shepherds" of Israel, found in the Jewish priesthood. God promised to send them a Shepherd who would care for them, a Good Shepherd. Surely, the crowd around Jesus that day must have made the connection, and understood the significance of what Jesus was saying.