I have a sneaking suspicion that that particular verse and the common understanding of it is a product of mistranslation and misunderstanding. If any Bible scholars who know and have access to the original languages and earliest translations read this, please help me confirm or deny this suspicion.

I can’t help but to see the words “I am” and think about the Hebrew name for God, “Yahweh”, rather than the standard English meaning of those words. Perhaps Yeshua was trying to convey something deeper with that statement. I don’t think he was highlighting his own divinity to the exclusion of all other teachers, but was rather trying to get folks to contemplate their own divinity by seeking God within and by extension through others. It seems the Archangels agree.

I believe it was a play on words that provoked deep introspection in many of his Hebrew listeners. But I also believe that play on words has been lost in translation.