On the Story of the Prodigal Son

I object
To this story
It should not be in the Bible
It is irresponsible
encourages wrongdoing

Maybe it is a good story
even a true story
Still, it should be kept
a Secret.
It is dangerous, gives the wrong impression
as if God is a pushover
gives the wrong idea
as if we can do whatever we want
and still come home.
As if God would forgive and welcome us
even if we behave as if there is no God.
As if

This story needs for a different ending
one in which the elder brother
is vindicated and
the younger brother gets a bath
and learns Discipline
where the elder brother joins the party
with a knowing look in his eyes
exchanged with the father aware
of what the morrow will bring the erring yet
returned offspring
This story needs a different ending
one that rescues the father from his moral naivety
restores his dignity
and lifts him from his humiliation
where justice is done and
the world made safe
where order is hewed from chaos
by the imposition of consequences

There is no free lunch…

there are words, they awaken me
from my clarity, my perspicuity
My body broken for you…
take eat
my blood shed for you…
take and drink

and I arise
to go forward
to go home
from the far country of my objection
I traverse the distance between what I am
and what I will be
I walk
toward hands that hold a broken piece of bread
that hold a cup

What if there were no Father
waiting
if there were no bread in the hands
no wine in the cup
there is food enough in my Father’s house
and I am hungry and thirsty
for my thoughts have left me empty and homeless
so I return
from my thoughts
to the Father’s.

I object to my objection
this story
is the only one I can live in.