Before becoming a Disciple of Christ, Matthew was a Tax Collector or Publican in the town of Capernaum. As a Tax Collector, Matthew was bitterly opposed, talked, and gossiped about and hated. He was classified with the worst of sinners. Then one day Matthew was sitting in his tax booth (“sitting at the receipt of custom”). Jesus walked up to him and said “Follow Me.” Matthew got up and left his tax booth and his business and followed Christ.
o “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).