The Gospel According to On the Waterfront

 ...for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing?And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 

 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’

Matthew 25:35-40 NRSVue

 Were you aware that this is the 70th anniversary of the acclaimed, classic film On the Waterfront? It was released first in Japan in June of 1954 -- who knows why. Ah yes, 1954 was a great year in so many ways. Here is a succinct description of the plot: 

Dockworker Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) had been an up-and-coming boxer until powerful local mob boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) persuaded him to throw a fight. When a longshoreman is murdered before he can testify about Friendly's control of the Hoboken waterfront, Terry teams up with the dead man's sister Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and the streetwise priest Father Barry (Karl Malden) to testify himself, against the advice of Friendly's lawyer, Terry's older brother Charley (Rod Steiger).

Malloy "coulda been a contendah" but Brando actually won the Oscar for Best Actor. The performance by Karl Malden, an actor with a nose like a califlower, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. His Father Barry offers one of the most powerful "sermons" you'll every hear in a film. It is about The Incarnation and our incarnation, injustice and crucifixion. We even hear a phrase from Matthew 25 which is so appropriate in our time about "the least of these." Could this possibly be included in a film today? 

 I came down here to keep a promise. I gave Kayo my word that if he stood up to the mob I’d stand up with him. All the way. And now Kayo Dugan is dead. He was one of those fellas who had the gift of standing up but this time they fixed him oh they fixed him for good this time. Unless it was an accident like Big Mac says.

 Some people think the crucifixion only took place on Calvary. Well they’d better wise up. Taking Joey Doyle’s life to stop him from testifying is a crucifixion. And dropping a sling on Kayo Dugan because he was ready to spill his guts tomorrow – that’s a crucifixion. And every time the mob puts the puts the crusher on a good man, tries to stop him from doing his duty as a citizen? It’s a crucifixion. And anybody who sits around and lets it happen, keeps silent about something he knows has happened, shares the guilt of it just as much as the roman soldier who pierced the flesh of our lord to see if he was dead. 

Boys this is my church! And if you don’t think Christ is down here on the waterfront you’ve got another guess coming. Every morning when the hiring boss blows his whistle Jesus stands alongside you in the shape-up. He sees why some of you get picked and some of you get passed over. He sees the family men worrying about getting the rent and getting food in the house for the wife and the kids. He sees you selling your souls to the mob for a day’s pay. What does Christ think of the easy money boys who do none of the work and take all of the gravy? And how does he feel about the fellas who wear a hundred-and-fifty dollar suits and diamond rings on your union dues and your kickback money? 

And how does he, who spoke up without fear against every evil, feel about your silence? You want to know what’s wrong with our waterfront? It’s the love of a lousy buck. It’s making love of a buck, the cushy job more important than the love of man! It’s forgetting that every fella down here is your brother in Christ. 

But remember Christ is always with you. Christ is in the shape-up, he’s in the hatch, he’s in the union hall, he’s kneeling right here beside Dugan. And he’s saying to all of you: “if you do it to the least of mine you do it to me.” And what they did to Joey and what they did to Dugan they’re doing to you. And you, you, all of you! And only you, only you with God’s help have the power to knock ‘em out for good.

                                                                Karl Malden as Father Barry