Some of the teachings of Jesus created confusion at the time he said and continue to this day to cause unintended confusion. An example of that is our reflection verse today about binding and loosing. Fr. Ron Rolheiser provides insightful teaching on what it means to bind or lose someone. “These words of Jesus apply not just to those who are ordained to ministry and administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation but to everyone inside the body of Christ. All of us have the power to bind and to loose. One part of this teaching allows for some easier explanation. Here’s an example: If you are a member of the Body of Christ and you forgive someone, Christ forgives that person, and he or she is loosed from sin…That is one of the incredible gifts given to us in the incarnation. But what about the reverse? Suppose I refuse to forgive someone who has wounded me in some way; suppose I hold grudges and refuse to let go of the wrong that another has done to me; am I binding that person in sin? Does God also refuse to forgive and let go because I refuse to forgive and let go? This is a difficult question, though a couple of preliminary distinctions can shed some light on the issue. In grace, just as in love, you can be gifted beyond what you deserve, but the reverse is not true. The algebra of undeserved grace works only one way. Love can give you more than you deserve, but it cannot punish you more than you deserve. God gives us the power to set each other free but not the same kind of power to keep each other in bondage. Put more simply, when I hold a grudge against someone who has wronged me, keeping him constantly aware that he has done wrong, I am keeping that person tied to their sin – but God isn’t endorsing this. Heaven will not go along with my emotional blackmail. The Christian power to bind and loose is the power to bind and loose in conscience, truth, goodness, and love. When I refuse to forgive another and hold a grudge, I act not as the Body of Christ nor as an agent of grace. Biblically, we bind each other when, in love, we refuse to compromise truth and when we refuse to give each other permission to take false liberties and make bad choices. Thus, for example, parents bind their children when they, lovingly but clearly, refuse to give them permission to ignore Christ’s teaching on marriage and sexuality. We bind a friend when we refuse to give them our approval to cheat in their business in order to make more money. A friend binds you when she refuses to bless your moral compromises. Ever since God took on concrete human flesh, grace has had a visible human dimension. Heaven is watching Earth – and is letting itself be helped by the best of what we do down here but not bound by the worst of what we do down here.”