Right after the discussion about Zacchaeus, the text states that the crowd believes that the Kingdom of God "will appear at once". Many seem to believe that Jesus is a Messiah, but that the Kingdom of God to be a political upheaval rather than something internal to the hearts of people.
In actuality, if one considers the growth of Christianity over the centuries, including the conversion of Constantine, then the Kingdom of God has had powerful political ramifications.
Jesus tells them a parable. In the parable, a man of noble birth goes to a distant land to be made king. He gives money to servants to manage his affairs while he is gone, specifically ten minas coins each to three different servants with the instruction to put the money to work.
He also has enemies who send a delegation that protests the coronation.
The man is made king and returns. One servant invested the ten coins and made ten more coins. Another servant's investment produced five coins. The last servant hid the coins and it did not produce any return on investment.
The king gave ten and five cities to the first two servants, respectively. But he chastised the last servant for disobeying him and not even putting it in a bank to earn interest.
Finally, the enemies who protested the coronation are ordered to be killed.
The traditional interpretation is that God has given us all talents and resources. God wants us to put them all to use. Some investments we choose will produce different amounts of return. But the thing that made the king angry is hiding our talents and doing nothing at all.
Likewise, in no example is a servant who lost the investment. Rather, each had a return on investment and it was only the one who did nothing that made God angry.
Finally, the mentioning of the enemies that protest the coronation is interesting. Putting it all together, Jesus seems to be saying: I have a kingdom. Those servants who make investments for it will be rewarded regardless of how big or small the pay out is. Those who oppose me will be punished.
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