Jesus spoke in parables in the three so-called synoptic Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – sometimes he really seems to think aloud:

“Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God?” – Mark.4:30

But in the Gospel of John, he sort of abandoned the “liken-unto” kind of talk, and start to express “being” more frequently. He does not say “I am likened unto a wine”, but he says:

“I am ..the wine” – John 15: 1

This kind of mysterious transitions between what something or someone is compared to, and what something or someone is, one may find examples of also in the Song of Solomon:

“I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” – Song of Solomon 2:1

Someone is