A man was leaving home to travel to another place for a visit. Before he left, he talked with his servants. He told his servants to take care of his things while he was gone. He decided how much each servant would be able to care for. The man gave one servant 5,000 gold coins. He gave another servant 2,000 gold coins. And he gave a third servant 1,000 gold coins. Then he left. The servant who got 5,000 gold coins went quickly to invest the money. Those 5,000 gold coins earned 5,000 more. It was the same with the servant who had 2,000 gold coins. That servant invested the money and earned 2,000 gold coins. But the servant who got 1,000 gold coins went away and dug a hole in the ground. Then he hid his master’s money in the hole.
“After a long time the master came home. He asked the servants what they did with his money. The servant who got 5,000 gold coins brought that amount and 5,000 more gold coins to the master. The servant said, ‘Master, you trusted me to care for 5,000 gold coins. So I used them to earn 5,000 more.’
“The master answered, ‘You did right. You are a good servant who can be trusted. You did well with that small amount of money. So I will let you care for much greater things. Come and share my happiness with me.’