He already has Permanent Residency status, and is already receiving the benefits associated with that - but recently he was frightened by a rumour that the present government might strip benefits from non-citizens.
So he went into the government office to begin the process of applying for citizenship, but they told him he must apply online or in a capital city.
So he took a trip to a capital city. He filled out forms. He paid the application fee.
It was a lot of work for an aged man. And it is only the beginning of everything he'll have to do.
While he was at one of the government offices, he asked an official if there's a chance he could lose his pension.
"Very unlikely," he was told.
So he may have panicked unnecessarily.
He asked our friend, who has also applied for citizenship, how much her application cost.
So they were both sitting here discussing the procedure and the costs they had to undergo in order to apply for citizenship.
But I was born with citizenship rights. Freely!
Israel under the Law was like someone spending a lifetime applying for citizenship over and over again but never obtaining it.
But we've been born again freely into the grace and righteousness that are in Christ Jesus, without the works of the Law.
A Christian going back to keeping Moses' Law again would be like someone born with citizenship going through the whole rigmarole of applying for citizenship over and over and over again.
It would be pitiful even just to go through a small part of the procedure again. Even if just as some sort of memorial.
Some people and groups do just that - even some Christians. They make a whole church tradition out of it. Much of Israel does. They make a whole national tradition out of it. Not realising that they don't need to.
No matter how festive they make it, it's still not necessary.
No matter how ingrained it becomes into the national identity. Or their church identity.
No matter how much they shroud it in 'godliness' - it's still not necessary, nor is it beneficial.
The new birth is available freely. And once you've been born again, there's no need to continue keeping Moses' Law. Moses Law was only a symbolic representation of what we now have in Christ.
Once you've got citizenship, you can just rest in its privileges. Once you're saved, it's now just a matter of praising and thanking God.
Going back to Moses' Law - with all its regular feasts, sabbaths, dates and prohibitions - is as needless as a citizen continuously applying for citizenship.
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