The two slaves who doubled their master's investment most certainly had to engage in risky behavior. They were no safe, prudent investors. But the third slave was. In Jesus' day, there were no reliable banks. On top of that, the Bible has prohibitions against lending money at interest. And so the third slave did the safe and prudent thing, the one thing that guaranteed he would not lose any of his master's money.
On a number of occasions, I've been part of groups that were discussing how to invest a church's endowment funds. And I probably don't need to tell you that risky, speculative investments were not seriously considered. I don't disagree with such financial prudence, but the same sort of timidity often saturates all church planning and thinking. Yet Jesus' parable lifts up risky behavior and says, "Well done, good and trustworthy slave."
I don't think that Jesus meant that we are never supposed to consider the risks before doing something. In fact, he tells a parable about doing just that. But clearly Jesus thinks there will be times and places where we are called to risk it all for the sake of God's coming reign. Jesus certainly did so, risking even his very life.
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