And who exactly did this Christ claim to be then?
He may well have said 'I & God are One' but this doesn't mean 'I AM God' ?!??!?
Actually, He DID claim identity as God - and His hearers threw a wobbly.
In John 8, He claimed the "I AM" name for Himself. Not only did He use the Name that no 'righteous' Jew would utter openly, part of the Tetragrammaton; He used it of Himself.
He also said "I and the Father are One".
Pretty convincing that he thought Himself God.
Then there were the miracles thing. Many of them were 'parables in picture' and illustrated things only God was supposed to do...a fact that, on one occasion, left His disciples petrified AFTER the event.
Scripture records that, after Jesus calmed the storm - AFTER - the disciples were afraid.
Why?
Because, steeped in the psalms as they were, they would know that that kind of thing was Gods' province alone...as, by the waqy, was forgiving sin, which Jesus did on several occasion, to the rage of His detractors.