The emphasis of this parable is on the faithfulness of God’s people using the natural gifts, the Spiritual gifts and the opportunities we have been given by God to use to serve and glorify Him in this life. The atmosphere in which it was given is summed up in the word “expectancy.” The people, irritated over the domination of Rome were looking for their Messiah to come, overthrow Rome and set up His kingdom. As God’s servants today, we need to be ready when He returns and secondly, we need now to be good stewards of that which He has given to us. The servant who managed to salvage the one pound given to him is sadly like many Christians today who will be in heaven one day but have lived for self instead of God.