A Mission
Explanation
The Joke
God appears to a person and tells them they have been chosen for a special mission. The person is overjoyed — until God explains that the mission is something completely mundane, like filing taxes correctly or being polite to customer service representatives. The joke is that if God actually did assign missions to people, they would probably be boringly practical rather than epic and dramatic.
The Humor
The comic subverts the narrative trope of the "divine calling" or "chosen one" story. In fiction, being selected by a higher power always means an epic quest. In reality, if an omniscient being wanted to optimize human wellbeing, the most impactful "missions" would be prosaic: vote in local elections, tip your server, don't spread misinformation.
This connects to a broader SMBC theme about the gap between dramatic narratives and practical reality. The universe doesn't owe us exciting purpose — and the things that actually matter are often unglamorous.
God in SMBC
God is one of the most frequently recurring characters in SMBC, typically depicted as a bearded figure who is variously incompetent, indifferent, or mischievous. Weinersmith uses God as a vehicle for exploring philosophical questions about meaning, purpose, and the nature of the universe.