More or less...

There was a man who owned a dog and a handful of sheep. He had a nice house and lush fields, but passers by were consistently concerned with the condition of his animals: the dog looked thin and unkempt; the sheep were sometimes limping due to an injury or had sores around their eyes.

Just up the road lived another man; he had two dogs and a larger flock of sheep. The difference in the quality of his animals was noticeable: the dogs looked healthy and full of energy; the sheep seemed contented and often produced new little lambs. 

One day, someone phoned the authorities to report the first man for neglecting his animals. An inspector came and, sure enough, discovered that the dog and the few sheep were not well cared for, and so they fined him and took the animals away from him. But someone needed to look after that dog and sheep, and so the animals were given to the other man, the one who lived up the road.

It's not a true story, but it makes sense to me. If someone is neglecting their animals, a different solution needs to be found. and what better option than to entrust them to someone with a good track record of taking care of his own dogs and sheep.

I've often been puzzled by Mark 4: 25, which appears in the middle of some parables that Jesus is sharing about shining our light and planting the seeds of the gospel. It says,  "Those who have something will be given more, and those who have nothing will have taken away from them even the little that they have." It sounds vaguely unjust - like taking from the poor to give to the rich. But when you think of it in terms of faithfulness, it makes a lot of sense. As in the parables of the talents,  those who prove themselves faithful can be entrusted with more, while those who are lazy or neglectful risk losing the little that they have. 

Jesus also makes this statement in the context of explaining to His disciples why He speaks in parables. In fact, one. Bible translation expresses verse 25 in this way: "To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. To those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them." It's to do with how obedient we are. In His kindness, Jesus does not want us to become increasingly accountable for growing levels of disobedience... and so the gift of greater understanding is granted mainly to those who are faithful in obeying what they already understand of His Word. The more we obey, the more we can be entrusted with; the less we obey, the less we will understand. It's our choice!