There is definitely dualism with the story of Nicodemus. He is a well off Jewish religious leader but comes to Jesus in the middle of the night. The Samaritan women encounters Jesus in the high noon. Nicodemus is denounced by Jesus and points ahead to the women in chapter 4. This dualism is of light and dark; “Jewish, male, privileged, religious leader and Samaritan, female, underprivileged, non-Jewish religious leader- symbolizes the Johannine community’s reversal of the ‘this-world’ (196).” We also learn from this perspective about how the gender boundaries are important. Jesus talking to a woman in public would have been bad for the woman. In Roman culture wives speaking publicly with a women reflected flirtatious attitude. This can even be seen today in Middle Eastern cultures where social interaction between unrelated men and women is almost the same as sexual intercourse. The disciples would have seen the interaction and were amazed. The woman is bold, outspoken, not concerned about Jesus revealing her life shows the intelligent conversation they were having. The disciples could have sent her away but saw the conversation and it relates back to the “this world”. She was not sent away because of the intelligent
There is definitely dualism with the story of Nicodemus. He is a well off Jewish religious leader but comes to Jesus in the middle of the night. The Samaritan women encounters Jesus in the high noon. Nicodemus is denounced by Jesus and points ahead to the women in chapter 4. This dualism is of light and dark; “Jewish, male, privileged, religious leader and Samaritan, female, underprivileged, non-Jewish religious leader- symbolizes the Johannine community’s reversal of the ‘this-world’ (196).” We also learn from this perspective about how the gender boundaries are important. Jesus talking to a woman in public would have been bad for the woman. In Roman culture wives speaking publicly with a women reflected flirtatious attitude. This can even be seen today in Middle Eastern cultures where social interaction between unrelated men and women is almost the same as sexual intercourse. The disciples would have seen the interaction and were amazed. The woman is bold, outspoken, not concerned about Jesus revealing her life shows the intelligent conversation they were having. The disciples could have sent her away but saw the conversation and it relates back to the “this world”. She was not sent away because of the intelligent