Jesus often used illustrations from business life. This one is about a man who gave money to trusted servants, expecting them to invest it profitably. He then went away but clearly expected a good return on his investment.
 
The parallel is obvious. Jesus came, made disciples and then gave them the gospel of salvation so that it could be invested into the lives of people and win souls for glory. He gave people, including the apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:11-13) to equip the whole church to demonstrate and explain the character of God and His grace (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). Each believer is Christ's investment to bring His light to a dark world and multiply the light as people are converted and give more glory to Him.
 
Jesus was going away. The apostles would be left with the Holy Scriptures including the gospel and the Holy Spirit who would give spiritual gifts. That investment will 'mature' when Jesus comes back again. In the story, two of the servants made 100% profit but the third servant had no interest in putting his Master's investment to work. And so Jesus taught that there would be two kinds of people: those who were eager for the Master's capital to increase and those who had no interest in what the Master would get on his return (lazy, sulky, hating their Master or too busy with their own concerns to work for him).
 
Judas Iscariot went one step further and tried to get the value of the Master for himself – but he lost everything. Most of the others invested their lives and brought great profit to the Lord - much glory and many new believers into God's family. If you are in Christ then you have been given spiritual gifts with which to glorify God. What are you doing with them? They are not toys for your amusement but tools to use in the building of His kingdom. When He returns, what profit will you be able to show for all He has invested into you? Will He have been glorified; will there be new believers; will His kingdom have grown?