The Watchmen

Mark 13:33-37

"Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. (It is) like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—  lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!”

Their story begins somewhere between a death and a looming apocalypse. A ragtag group of masked vigilantes are brought back out of retirement after one of their fellow crime fighters is murdered. Most had given up their former life of adventure in spite of the escalating Cold War between the Americans and the Russians...one that would surely end in a nuclear war. The setting in the mid 1980's, but not the mid-1980's that I remember (yes I am old). Comic writer Alan Moore set The Watchmen in an alternate history that is fairly close to ours so that he could comment about real-world contemporary life and politics. Along with the comic artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins, Moore was employed by DC Comics to create a story line based on some newly acquired superheroes from Charlton Comics. The team soon realized that the characters that they possessed were archetypal to all of comic-lore. So DC had them run with this archetype idea and create superheroes that were the "Everyman" of comic heroes. The difference would be that this new series would explore what would happen to people who wore masks, capes and fought crime in the real world. Would they be laughed at, lonely, rejected and persecuted? Who would stay committed to an ideal of pursuing justice? It is like X-Men with less superpowers but a lot more sadness. The Watchmen would pull from the annals of comic history to comment on our real contemporary world. Their outlook of the contemporary world was not a bright one. Moore, Gibbons and Higgins started the beginning of The Watchmen dark and grim because this graphic novel would forever change the comic book genre to cover more somber subjects. These comics were for more mature readers. And for those unfortunate youths who did stumble across this book in the comics store, their eyes would be opened to things that were age-inappropriate. Yet it is in this dark, somber real world that Moore, Gibbons and Higgins critiqued that Jesus also calls our attention to. It is to the immature that he says "Watch!" as he opens their eyes with spiritual maturity. Jesus tells his own story of Watchmen in Mark 13:33-37. Like the team at DC Comics, his is a story that closely parallels and critiques the real world. Similar to the graphic novel, Jesus pulls the idea of his Watchmen characters from earlier watchmen images from prophets like Ezekiel. However Jesus' story of the Watchmen is different in that it closes by calling us to join in the story. This is not just a parable but rather an invitation. The reader is called to be a Watchman. The listener is called to become part of Jesus' story. This is a general invite to all who have an ear to hear: from his original Disciples, to us now and all of those throughout various eras of Christian history. The constant call to the Watchmen is "Watch!" But what does it mean to be a Watchman? Finding our answer will involve investigating how believers have responded to this Divine call throughout the ages. Like a few other posts on this blog it will incorporate the metanarrative of Scripture but also the metanarrative of Christian history. many before us have wondered what has it meant to take heed, watch and pray. Along with them our collective story begins somewhere between the death of Jesus and his looming apocalypse.

Nite Owl and Rorschach

Take Heed

Ezekiel 3:16-20
Now it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.

The way that The Watchmen instills a somber sense is not only by its dark, secondary colors but by its conflict between characters... the main characters who are supposedly on the same team. Some of them are written as total opposites but others who disagree may even share traits. Take Nite Owl and Rorschach. Their strength (since neither has "super powers") involve how they view things: sight or insight. Nite Owl is like a geekier, middle aged Clark Kent who has stumbled upon Batman's gadgets. One of these gadgets is a pair of night vision goggles that allow him the ability to see at night like an owl (hence the owl gimmick). Rorschach sees things in black and white like a Rorschach Test (hence his ever evolving ink blot mask). And like that same test he reads into things in ways that others don't see (but happens to be right in his assumptions). It is this insight that leads Rorschach to warn the other retired Watchmen that someone is trying to kill them. Rorschach is a marginal figure, but one that takes heed to the signs of the times. The insight of a Watchmen being one who forewarns is what separated Rorschach from his fellow crime fighters and the prophet Ezekiel from the religious authorities of his day. The gift of Prophecy is



Rorschach and Nite Owl conflict

divinely aided perception. It is an insight that was used to forewarn others. It is about being a listener as much as being a seer. When God calls Ezekiel to be a prophet, He literally calls him to be a Watchman. He is to take heed to the Word of God and warn those in the Temple priesthood to flee from their corruption and idolatry. He was to warn them of their own looming apocalypse. It was one where the cold war between the Israelites and the Babylonians would become a hot one. Nebuchadnezzar would invade, destroy the temple and take captive many of the people. Yet Ezekiel's job as a prophet was not just to reveal his visions as signs of the times, but rather use his visions to show the people signs of the times that they could see themselves. Like Nite Owl he could see past the darkness and like Rorschach he understood things in black and white. So if Ezekiel understood the Prophet as a Watchman, then what was his approach to being watchful? Ezekiel understood that being an Old Testament/Biblical prophet was not just about foretelling but forth telling. God gave Ezekiel insight for the future by clearly revealing what was occurring in the present. Ezekiel's Watchmen story was a commentary on his contemporary world.

His vocation as a prophet was about telling what would happen based on what God thought should be happening. Being a Watchman is about taking heed to God's saving message. Being a Watchman is about seeing through the darkness and deciphering the message in black and white... the difference between God's vision and Man's shortsightedness.

Ozymandias

Watch

Matthew 24:34-37
"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."

What happens when a Watchman confuses what being a Watchman is all about? That is the story of Ozymandias and the secret subplot revealed at the climax of The Watchmen. To Rorschach Ozymandias has taken his crime fighting power of using 100% of his brain and successfully put it to use in the corporate world. Unbeknownst to any of his former Watchmen colleagues, Ozymandias is the story's actual villain who is plotting the demise of countless victims in New York City. Ozymandias is a lesson in hubris. In an attempt to bring about what he thinks is the overall good Ozymandias loses his way and harms many. Ozymandias' plot is an attempt to stop the impending nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviets. His plan is to make his attack on New York City appear to be the work of space alien invaders. He believes that this will cause all of humanity to forget their differences and work together to defeat a common enemy. The hubris of Ozymandias lies in the fact that he took to much confidence in his intellectual ability and forgot about his moral obligation. His plan to save the world is no saving


Ozymandias' plot revealed

plan at all. Sometimes one can get confused on what their specific role as a Watchman is. It seems like it would have been easier for Old Testament Watchmen like Ezekiel who have the voice of God audibly speaking to them or New Testament Watchmen like the Disciples who have the Son of God speaking to them, but what about the rest of us in Christian history who only have the recorded text of the Word of God? Being a Watchmen in this era between Jesus' death and apocalypse comes with a sorts of challenges; most of them surrounding the issue of clarification. We understand that as a Watchman we are to take heed to the Word of God like Ezekiel but how then should we follow the vague second point, to "watch"? This is where we can learn from the errors of those brethren that have gone before us. The precursors of the contemporary Seventh Day Adventists church are found in the Millerite and early Adventist movement. They were followers of William Miller, a Baptist preacher who became convinced that the apocalypse, Jesus' Second Coming, would occur in 1843. He came to this conclusion by reading a day as symbolic of a year in Daniel 8:14 and the temple as symbolic of the Earth (as opposed to the actual temple that was in Jerusalem). We are all aware that Jesus' Second    

Chart showing the Millerite prediction of the 1843 Second Coming

Coming did not occur in 1843. William Miller did not preach a specific date but a range of dates between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844... and another Adventist preacher, Samuel S. Snow decided that the true date was October 22, 1844. On October 22, 1844 thousands of Millerites who had assembled together for Jesus' return after selling all of their worldly possessions would come to understand that Jesus was not coming back on that date either. That date is now known as the Great Disappointment. Let us take caution before we ridicule these brethren. This was their approach to being watchful. They did this as their response to Jesus' Watchman call in Mark 13:33-37. William Miller thought that keeping watch of the signs of the times included figuring out the time of the second advent/return of Christ. Ironically in honoring Jesus' words in Mark 13:33-37 they dishonored his warning in Matthew 24:34-37.Jesus explicitely teaches that no man knows the day nor the hour of his judgment (be it the Second Coming or an individual's death). William Miller missed the greater part of understanding what prophecy is. It is the understanding of what Ezekiel understood a prophet as being. Being prophetic is not about foretelling as much as it is about forth telling. It is about "Thus saith the Lord" to the present age. So we must always read Scripture with the original audience in mind and not overlook them in the 

Ozymandias and Rorschach's conflict
 

selfish pursuit of receiving an "on-time word" just for us. God's Word is timeless and His truths are eternal. Jesus' message of being a Watchman has to be the same in the 1st century, as it was in 1844 as it is now.  The Millerites/Adventists were so obsessed with The Lord saving us from this world that they forgot that the overall message us to save this world. Still to this day they are seeking to justify their earlier prophetic confusion. In Christianity we all have different views in Eschatology and the End Times. Even though I have a camp that I fall into, I still view this theological area as a secondary issue. I also have a great deal of respect and fondness for much about the Seventh Day Adventist Church (I'd watch 3ABN any day over TBN, #shotsfired). Yet in the interest of being open and honest with fellow brethren, the commitment to this faulty doctrine as an organizational cornerstone distracts many Adventists Christians focus from an integral part of the Faith. A part that incorporates our call as watchmen. In Scripture, False Prophets were not always necessarily intentionally false, sometimes they just spoke presumptuously. And when they did, people suffered. True prophets could only speak to what God has said. They understood that being a Watchman is about declaring what God has said and being silent where He is silent. Sometimes there is an aire of mystery surrounding the full grasp of His sayings. Yet we can know with assurance that He did not say those things that He did not say. Being a watchman is about watching the signs of the times. Being a watchman is about waiting patiently and acting prudently.

Dr. Manhattan and time

Pray

Matthew 4:1-4
"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

The Watchmen is not just about preventing the impending nuclear conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union or solving the conflict between the Watchmen as a team. The Watchmen is at it's core about the internal conflict of every individual watchman. It is about their individual responses to the murder, the looming apocalypse and themselves. As the promotional ads for the graphic novel said "Who watches the watchmen?" This struggle is most clearly seen in the character




Dr. Manhattan

of Dr. Manhattan. Due to an accident during a nuclear physics experiment he was given superhuman strength and a super human appearance. He also is able views time from an outside perspective: past, present and future all occur at the same time. With this unique perspective he actually feels helpless to change the present and challenge fate. He is actually the only Watchman that has what we think of as superhero powers. Yet his godlike abilities have left him increasingly disinterested with the affairs of Mankind. He eventually retreats to Mars where he meditates, considered the nature of time and builds an elaborate watch-like device. He has abandoned his vocation of being a Watchman to pursue his  childhood interest in being a watchmaker. Herein lies the irony, from the Christian perspective, his seeming god-likeness has not made him godly at all. An enormous aspect of the pursuit holiness deals with the internal struggle. The personal struggle with sin has permeated the life of every person since creation. Matthew 4:1-11 teaches us that not even Jesus was excused from this trial. While fasting in the wilderness he battled with temptations of Satan. The difference between his and our story was that he was tempted and didn't sin. This story appears in some form in all three Synoptic Gospels. Inspired by this story many early Christians, like St. Anthony, went out into the Egyptian desert to do battle with the Devil

themselves. Theirs was a hard life of deprivation, meditation and prayer. All of this fasting and suffering was in the pursuit of conquering sin and being beyond temptation. The movement of Christians who chose this ascetic life became known as the Desert Fathers ( and Mothers). Have some of these stories added fanciful and legendary elements over time? I think so, but what cannot be denied is the earnestness of their pursuit. The Desert Fathers and Eastern Orthodox monastics practice what us called "nepsis." The word means to be vigilant, alert, awake... and yes, watchful. The ascetic response to the Watchman's call is a reflection on Jesus' keeping watch over temptation as seen through the eyes of Peter in 1st Peter 5:8 "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour)." Nepsis is an interpretive approach of putting St. Paul's "pray without ceasing" into practice. It involves a lot of isolation and the meditation that it requires is full of reflection on one's own spiritual condition. One Desert Father, Abba Ammonas described this reflective approach as such "Go and learn to think like the criminals who are in jail. They are asking the men where the judge is and when he is coming, weeping in anticipation. So too should the monk continually look into and condemn his soul, saying: “Ah me! How am I going to present myself at the judgment seat of Christ and what shall I be able to say in my defense?” If you meditate in this way all the time you can be saved’” So your primary
objection (if you have any) is probably that these this approach is not gracious enough with its concept of Grace. I would generally agree with that argument but I would also argue that we could learn from this approaches treatment of internal holiness. What if you and I were to truly start to take captive our thoughts of anger, hatred, lust and lies? Your second objection is probably that this type of acetic, spiritual discipline is that it leads to one becoming like Dr. Manhattan... not in the special powers or physical appearance but in an isolation that abandons the rest of humanity. True holiness is not only concerned for ones well being but the well being of others. So let's go back to the Dr. Manhattan story. Eventually he is convinced by Silk Spectre to come back to Earth and help de-escalate the rising tensions of the Cold War. The story of early monastics takes a similar turn. Figures like St. Basil and St. Benedict were integral in reforming the monastic movement in their embrace if community and outward ministry. Jesus, John the Baptist, Elijah and scores of other spiritual watchman spent periods of isolation in the wilderness battling their own demons but they all culminated with a return back to save those in the world. Being a watchman is about personal spiritual accountability through spiritual sobriety and vigilance. Being a watchman is about being accountable to the community around you through ministry.


Watchmen promotion

The Arrival

Mark 13:33
"Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is..."

The watchmen is a work for mature viewers. It is not the "safest" movie to watch because it is based on a book that is gritty, violent, dirty, vulgar and obscene. It is a story that lies between a murder and an impending apocalypse. This was surprising to many when it was originally published because they were used to bear and polite treatments of homicide, like Murder She Wrote, that the whole family could enjoy on a Sunday Evening. But murder isn't clean and life isn't either. Scripture can be criticized for being frank in its details and offensive with its material. Christian history is rightfully critiqued for being full of grit, violence, dirt, vulgarity and obscenity. Like the Watchmen Scripture is to appreciated by mature readers. Yet Jesus calls out even to the immature "Watch!" Scripture calls out in every era of Christian history for its readers to mature. It asks that they no longer mistake ignorance, superstition, presumptive speech, prayerlessness, personal unaccountability and sin as innocence. On the contrary it is just immaturity. In redeeming these Jesus points us to a murder and a coming Apocalypse and says "Watch!" It is in the midst of this time, the beginning of the joyous holiday season that he implores us, "Watch!" The traditional and liturgical name for the Christmas season is known as "Advent." Advent means "coming" and us the Latin version of the Greek "parousia", which we usually use in referring to the Apocalypse...the Second Coming. The first Advent was Jesus' birth that we celebrate at Christmas. They may seem like totally different things but both Advents are celebrations of life and memorials of death...simultaneously. Jesus' birth set in motion his eventual death, which bought our eternal life. That is the first advent. Jesus' return in the Apocalypse the impending death if sin and separation from God and the rebirth and redeeming of all Creation. These are not the only things that the two Advents share. Truth be told they are both apocalypses in the truest sense of the word: a revealing or disclosure. This revelation of the truth of life is what creates maturity. The immature parts of life are marked by hidden knowledge. Maturity is a graduation into the fullness of knowledge (both physical and spiritual). They are also both judgments: a negative judgment (punishment) of sin and death and a positive judgment (reward) of life and love. But that is then: in the future and the past. We stand in the present between the first and second advents... and judgment. We stand as a gritty yet motley crew of watchmen commissioned with our Master's matching orders: take heed, watch and pray. What does it mean to be a watchman? It is to live everyday in the advent: filled with the love and joy of Christmas and inspired by the hope of Christ's return. It is to be alert and aware. Being a Watchman is only for the mature.

Rorschach investigates