jesus
Explanation
The Joke
The comic shows a man sitting with a priest, confessing that he feels "simultaneously without meaning and pathetic." The priest advises him: "Read what Jesus said. What he did. Read and be changed." In the final panel, the man is reading about Jesus and has arrived at precisely the wrong takeaway: "By the age of 33, Christ had started a major religion and died for everyone's sins?! What am I doing with my life?!"
Instead of finding spiritual comfort or moral guidance in the life of Jesus, the man has interpreted it as yet another unfavorable comparison for his own achievements. Rather than being inspired by Jesus's message, he is intimidated by Jesus's resume. The priest's advice has backfired spectacularly, making the man feel even more inadequate than before.
The Humor
The comedy hinges on the man interpreting a religious text through the lens of modern achievement anxiety and career comparison. Jesus's life story, meant to provide spiritual solace, instead becomes the ultimate LinkedIn profile that makes the reader feel like an underachiever. This is a recognizable modern neurosis -- the tendency to compare one's accomplishments to others -- taken to its logical extreme by comparing oneself to the literal Son of God. The priest's well-meaning advice has accidentally weaponized the Gospels into a source of impostor syndrome.