It's likely that kind of semantic shift. Jesus was part of a region that was pastoral and fishing-based. Two of the major recurring themes are of the Lord as the Shepherd and of his fishermen disciples. You also get a lot of talk about the Word.

Basically, the guy sacrificed himself to cleanse humanity of its sins. I guess it'd be the default malevolence that every human used to be born with, if we're translating it to your world's perspective. He's been revered by different groups ever since.