The Three Employees is based on Matthew 25:14-30
God’s nation is like an entrepreneur who was going on a years-long journey, who called in three of his employees and gave them all his seed capital. One of them got one million pounds, one of them got four hundred thousand pounds and one got two hundred thousand, each according to the entrepreneur’s appraisal. Then he went away.
The employee who’d received a million pounds went away and started trading. They made a profit – another million. In the same way, the one with four hundred thousand managed to double their money as well.
But the one who’d got two hundred thousand, well, they went and found a safe deposit box and stuck their boss’ money in there.
So, after a long time, the entrepreneur came back. And the one who’d started with one million, they came and said, ‘Look, boss, you gave me a million and I made another million!’
The entrepreneur replied, ‘Excellent! That’s great work – you’ve shown I can rely on you and I’m going to put you in charge of a lot more from now on. I’m really delighted with you.’
Then the one who’d had four hundred thousand came and said, ‘ Sir, you gave me four hundred thousand, but look, I’ve now got eight hundred thousand!’
The entrepreneur replied again, ‘Excellent! That’s great work – you’ve shown I can rely on you and I’m going to put you in charge of a lot more from now on. I’m really delighted with you.’
Then the one who’d had two hundred thousand came and said, ‘Boss, you’re a hard dealer. You get money you didn’t earn and you take profits from firms you didn’t run. So, I thought ‘let’s just keep the boss’ money safe. Here it is back – and you can keep it.’
The entrepreneur replied, ‘You nasty, lazy, useless so-called worker! You knew I got money I didn’t earn and took profits from firms I didn’t run? Then why didn’t you put my money in a shares account, so when I got back I could have had my money with some on top? Somebody take this loser’s two hundred thousand from them, and give it to the one with two million. See, people who’ve got more end up with more than they need. It’s the people who don’t have anything who lose even what they’ve got.’
‘And go clear their desk and throw them out! They’re fired!’
Previous parable: The Ten Budgets – Luke 19:11-27
Next parable: Ravens and Flowers – Matthew 6:25-33
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