“As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” Matthew 9:9

Matthew’s story begins with a simple but powerful scene recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus sees a man sitting at a tax booth and says, “Follow Me.” Matthew was not in a synagogue, not praying, and not searching for spiritual truth. He was working—doing a job that made him wealthy but despised. As a tax collector, Matthew was seen as a collaborator with Rome, a man who profited from injustice and betrayal. He was socially rejected, morally questionable, and spiritually distant. Yet this is precisely where Jesus met him.

This is the stage of being—the natural man. Matthew represents humanity in its raw state: capable, intelligent, but driven by self-interest and shaped by environment rather than divine purpose. There is nothing in the text that suggests Matthew had cleaned up his life before Jesus approached him. The call came first. Grace initiated the relationship, not repentance. Jesus did not say, “Change, then follow Me.” He said, “Follow Me,” trusting that transformation would follow obedience.

This stage teaches us that God’s calling is not based on readiness but on willingness. Matthew did not qualify himself; Jesus qualified him by calling him. The natural man often feels unworthy, unseen, or trapped in identity labels imposed by society. Matthew was known as “the tax collector” before he was ever known as “the disciple.” But Jesus addressed him not by his past, but by his potential.

In this stage, Matthew had little spiritual capacity, but he had a response. He stood up. That single act—rising from the tax booth—marked the beginning of everything that followed. God does not ask the natural man to understand the journey, only to take the first step of faith.

The stage of being reminds us that no one is too ordinary, too compromised, or too far gone to be called. Jesus still walks past modern tax booths—offices, marketplaces, routines—and calls people in the middle of their lives. The invitation still stands: come as you are. The call always precedes the change. Follow Jesus.