Lectionary Readings: Year A – Proper 16

In 1882, Mark Twain published a little story here in the United States, which I’m sure all of you have heard about. It’s called The Prince and the Pauper, and it follows the lives of two young boys. One is Prince Edward VI, son of King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. The story is set in 1547, and if you’ve been to our Church History class, then you know that Prince Edward is the one who required that the Church of England use the Book of Common Prayer in 1549. The other boy is a poor beggar called Tom Canty. That’s the historical context for this little story.

Tom grew up poor, and had to beg in order to survive. But he always refused to steal like his father did. It was a miserable existence, and in order to escape his misery, Tom would dream of living like the Prince of Wales. One day, he saw the Prince through a fence, and decided that no matter what they did to him, he would jump the fence to get a better look. He is caught almost as soon as he gets over the fence, and the guards try to kick him out, but Edward intervenes. The two boys begin playing, and they soon discover not only that they look alike, but that both of them dream of living like the other. Prince Edward because he feels like he is living in a gilded prison, while Tom just thinks of the food and the safety of the palace. So Edward comes up with the idea that they should trade clothes, so that Edward can go out and experience London without anyone knowing who he is. He tells Tom to stay in the room, and that he would be back by dark. 

What happens next is a case of mistaken identity. In the palace, when it gets dark, Tom is wondering why the prince hasn’t come back yet. He tries to tell Lady Jane Grey that he is not the real prince, but just a poor beggar from Offal Court. And Jane and those she reports this to assume he has lost his mind, that he is just overworked and that this “Poor dear!” just needs some good rest to cure him. And so a small army of servants waits on him hand and foot to make sure he overcomes his sudden madness. Meanwhile, Edward, dressed as Tom, is beaten by the guards, beaten by Tom’s father for returning without a penny begged, and ridiculed by all the people to whom he makes the claim that he is really the Prince of Wales. He falls victim to the harsh reality of England at that time: to survive, it’s everyone for himself. For someone who grew up so privileged, this is a shock to Edward. And, no matter how hard he tries, he is kept from returning to the palace by Tom’s father, who thinks this boy is his good-for-nothing son, and by the palace guards who just see a little beggar, dressed in rags. Thankfully, he meets a man named Miles Hendon, a nobleman who takes pity on him for having to suffer at the hands of such a cruel reality, and who simply doesn’t want to see the evils of the English laws at that time chew up and spit out an innocent boy. He wants good for this boy, regardless of his insane ramblings about being the Prince of Wales – something he obviously cannot be.

And Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “Who do the people say that I am?”

And they said, “Well, there are some people that think you’re just a poor carpenter from Nazareth. And then they usually add something like ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Some people think you’re just mentally unstable, and maybe another one of those hopeful types running around trying to raise up an army to fight off the Roman occupiers. … But, because you’re going around teaching people about the Kingdom of Heaven, and healing the sick and feeding the hungry, they think there’s a bit more to you than meets the eye. And so, some of them think you’re John the Baptist reincarnated, and others think maybe Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets of old.”

These ideas about who Jesus is are very common, even today. We have people who believe that Jesus was just a human prophet, going about and calling people to come back to the original teachings of God. That he was just a teacher of good morals who taught that life is only about good behavior. Or, that he was nothing more than a person with a decent understanding of human nature, and that he was able to convince people to take on a softer understanding of the laws of the land. 

If you stop and think about what we see today, there are plenty of people, including in the church, who look at the teachings of Jesus, and twist them in order to make them easier to live by. Take, for instance, the idea that we ought to love our neighbor. For Jesus, your neighbor meant everyone who wasn’t staring back at you from the mirror. But people like to redefine what the word neighbor means, so that they can create rules for who gets their love. First it’s your family, then the people who actually live next door, then your local community, then your fellow citizens, and finally, the rest of the world. If that’s the case, then loving your neighbor becomes easy – and so does hatred, because those on the far end of who you consider your neighbor may end up being the object of your anger, and on the receiving end of your violence. But the truth is, when you ask who your neighbor is in the hopes of redefining that word, what you’re really asking is, “Who am I allowed to hate?” And somehow, people believe that this idea of love is all just peachy keen with the Jesus that they know and follow – a Jesus of mistaken identity. A mirror image of themselves. A Jesus whose morals match their own, rather than the other way around. A Jesus who serves them, rather than a king who deserves their loyalty.

And Jesus asked, “Who do the people say that I am?”

Sometimes we look at Jesus and see nothing more than what we want to see, because seeing the truth means sacrificing our own lives to live according to that Truth.

Back to our unfortunate Prince Edward. By this time, King Henry the Eighth has died, and Edward is now the King. And, unless he gets to the palace to rectify this case of mistaken identity, Tom Canty will be crowned in his place. But Edward has since been separated from Miles Hendon, his patron, and is chased by Tom’s father and his criminal friends. They set him up to teach him a lesson, and he is falsely accused of stealing a basket of fruit, and faces hanging for such a small crime. But thankfully, Miles Hendon finds him in time, brings him to the courts, and pays his fine so that he does not die for a crime he didn’t commit. Miles secretly laughs at Edward for claiming to be the King, but still treats him with dignity and respect, even going so far as to buy him new clothes. Playing along with Edward’s delusions, Miles says that “such a fine young land is worthy of fine clothes,” to which Edward responds, “A man’s worth has nothing to do with what he is wearing.”  Little do either of them know that this act of kindness – these new clothes – will ultimately prove to be Edward’s salvation. 

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Okay. So, some of the people have my identity confused with whatever makes more sense to them. That’s a shame. But, the more important question, my friends, is, ‘Who do you say that I am?”

And the disciple that piped up is the one who always loves to jump up and volunteer for everything, jumps out of boats in raging storms, who sometimes gets too angry, makes vows he cannot keep, or tells Jesus off for not being the way he wants Jesus to be. After all, like most people of his time, Peter wanted Jesus to be a strongman, able to save him and his fellow people from the scourge of the Romans living in their land. He wanted to be protected physically from harm and evil. But by now, Peter has seen enough of what Jesus has been doing and what he has been teaching, and this time, Peter gets it right. He says to Jesus, “You are the Messiah. You are the son of the living God.”

And Jesus tells him, “Good for you, Simon son of Jonah! My Father in Heaven has given you this insight. And because of this insight, you now have the power to interpret what God’s will on earth is.”

You see, the concepts of binding and loosing that we heard in the Gospel today were terms the teachers of the law used to interpret what actions were forbidden, and which were permissible. That is, they were terms that allowed them to interpret right from wrong. Because of Peter’s insight, Jesus has given him – and by extension, all of us – the ability to determine what God’s will is, “on earth, just as it is in heaven.”

Now, if you’ve been tracking with what we’ve been saying, you’re wondering “How is this not just giving permission to people to interpret morality according to their own understanding? How is any of this different from those who like to decide who they are allowed to love, and who they have permission to hate? Isn’t this just more of the same?” Well, before we get to that, let’s take a look at our two little boys again, and how they are finally reunited in this story.

Edward, still trying to figure out how to get people to understand that he is the true king, arrives at the palace in time for the coronation of Tom Canty in his place. Since he has the fancy new clothes Miles bought for him, he asks one of the noble ladies attending the event if she needs a page to help her, and because her page is ill, she takes this sharply dressed young boy along with her. Edward is able to get into the palace, runs to the coronation hall, and yells for them to stop the coronation, because he is the true King. The guards are ready to send this imposter to his doom, but Tom Canty speaks up, and confirms Edward’s claim.

Now, Tom could have taken his situation and agreed with the guards: “Arrest this imposter! I am the true king of England!” and had young King Edward thrown into the dungeon. He could have claimed the kingdom, and taken advantage of all the earthly power that that entailed. He could have stolen Edward’s identity.

But Tom Canty knew who he was, because he knew who the real king was. Tom’s identity was wrapped up in knowing who Edward was. And because he knew both who he was, and who Edward really was, he was able to make the right choice, not only for himself, but for the young King, and, ultimately, the Kingdom.

The difference between defining our own morality and serving the king requires identifying who the real king is. If we mistake the identity of the king for ourselves, we will never serve the kingdom.

And Jesus continually asks all his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” 

[This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on August 23, 2026.]