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After the flood, God instructed Noah and his family to leave the Ark and release all animals so they could multiply throughout the earth.
Noah decided to build an altar for God and present him with a burnt offering, a sacrifice consumed by fire.
It was not only Noah’s self-inclination to give an offering to God but also a reflection of his generosity as he sacrificed every clean animal that went into the Ark.
God smelled the pleasing aroma; it was acceptable.
God said in his heart not to curse the ground again or destroy all living creatures.
By implication, the ground or earth was cursed because the water of the flood made the earth unproductive for about 370 days, well over a year.
However, God’s promise of enduring times and seasons launches the new world.
In the second lesson, Jesus gave the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard to buttress the concluding verse of the previous chapter.
“But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be last” …the great reversal.
A land owner engaged five sets of laborers at different hours but only negotiated payment with the first set.
The first set was engaged early in the morning, the new set at nine o'clock, later at noon, three, and finally at five in the evening.
They closed work at six o clock and the land owner paid each set the same amount of money despite coming in at different hours.
Those who came in early in the morning grumbled but the landowner stood his ground because he had not bridged the payment agreement in any way.
God is never unfair, he is very generous, and all disciples are fundamentally equal in his sight.