What is a parable? It is a simple story drawn from everyday life.  Throughout His ministry, Jesus used them to illustrate key points.  For example, He would talk about shepherds and sheep, kings and citizens, planting and harvesting, baking and cleaning. Yet as the confrontation with some intensified, and as the multitudes thronged to hear Him speak, Jesus began to use parables for something more than illustrations.  He used them to test the multitudes perception of His message on the Kingdom.  Such was the case with the parable of the Sower and the Soils.