holding each other bound

I've been working my way through the Gospels, a few verses at a time (almost) every morning. I am almost at the end of John, the last of the four. This way of reading is strange for me, trying to engage faith instead of intellect. The little bit I have read about lectio divina (divine reading, reading as prayer) suggests that one way to do it is to see which words catch your attention and then to let those sink in and see what God has to say through them. I'm sure that was put more elegantly wherever I encountered it.

This morning, here is what leapt out at the end of John (chapter 20, verses 22-23):

"Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained. "

Now even I know that the traditional Catholic teaching about these verses is that this is the establishment of the priesthood, and of the sacrament of penance, or reconciliation as it is called now, or confession, for those of you who don't speak Catholic.

This is one of those many challenging passages in the Bible that doesn't go down so smoothly for me, particularly with the additional gloss of the church's (my church's) interpretation that a few men are given the power not only to forgive sins, but to "retain" them. "Hold them bound," I think it says elsewhere.

Without disputing any official interpretation, I have to say that today this passage spoke directly to me. About me. Especially the part about "whose sins you retain are retained." Holy cow. What if the way this works is that we regular people also have the power to forgive sins and, more disturbingly, the power to retain them? That would mean that we need each other for our mutal redemption, not only in the next life, but in this one. That would mean that when I am wronged, the person who wrongs me needs me. That person becomes my responsibility. "Whose sins you retain are retained." Does the Holy Spirit bestow that kind of power on all of us? What do we do with it? What do we do with the most difficult, hurtful, hurting people in our lives? Can our forgiveness loosen their bonds? Can it loosen our own bonds and make things better for all of us in ways that are not immediately apparent? Is that how it is supposed to work?