in both matthew and luke, a master puts his servants in charge of his goods while he is away on a trip. upon his return, the master assesses the stewardship of his servants. he evaluates them according to how faithful each was in making wise investments of his goods to obtain a profit. it is clear that the master sought some profit from the servants' oversight. a gain indicated faithfulness on the part of the servants. the master rewards his servants according to how each has handled his stewardship. he judges two servants as having been "faithful" and gives them a positive reward. to the single unfaithful servant, who "played it safe", a negative compensation is given.