But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
In Matthew 23, Jesus addresses the Pharisees and teachers of the law — the most respected religious experts of his day. The Pharisees were a Jewish sect who took scripture extremely seriously and were meticulous about following every detail of God's law. Many people looked up to them as the spiritual elite. Jesus delivers a series of seven 'woes' — pronouncements that carry both grief and warning — against them. In this first woe, he accuses them of using their position and knowledge not to guide people toward God, but to stand in the way. They themselves had missed the heart of what God's kingdom is about, and in doing so, they were preventing others from finding it too.
God, I don't want to be someone who carries keys they never use — or worse, uses them to lock people out. Forgive me for the times I've made you harder to reach through my words, my pride, or my judgment. Make me someone who genuinely opens doors. Amen.
The Pharisees were not obviously bad people. They were serious about God, disciplined in their practice, admired in their community. They fasted. They memorized scripture. They tithed even their herb gardens. And yet Jesus stands in front of them and says something that sounds less like anger and more like grief — the word 'woe' in the original language carries sorrow alongside judgment. These people who were supposed to be holding the door open were, in fact, blocking it. And they had no idea. That's the part that should make anyone who teaches, leads, parents, or mentors genuinely uncomfortable. It's entirely possible to know a great deal about God and become an obstacle to him. To make faith feel so dense with requirements, so loaded with performance expectations, so full of the wrong kind of seriousness, that the person standing at the threshold just quietly turns and walks away. The question this verse presses on you isn't whether you've ever done this on purpose. The question is whether you've done it anyway. Are the people around you moving toward God because of you — or are they losing heart?
What specifically were the Pharisees doing that Jesus says 'shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces'? What does it look like to block someone from God rather than guide them toward him?
Have you ever had an experience where someone's religious behavior — their tone, their rules, their judgments — made God feel further away rather than closer? What happened, and how did it affect you?
Jesus says the Pharisees themselves didn't enter the kingdom they were supposedly guarding. How is it possible for someone deeply religious and highly knowledgeable about God to still be far from him?
Think honestly about your closest relationships — in what ways might your attitudes, words, or behavior around faith be opening doors for the people around you, and in what ways might they be quietly closing them?
What is one specific thing you could change — about how you talk about God, how you treat people who are exploring faith, or how you practice your own faith — that would make God more approachable rather than less?
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
James 3:1
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat :
Matthew 7:13
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
Matthew 7:5
For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
Isaiah 50:7
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Matthew 23:23
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 23:1
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6:10
"But woe (judgment is coming) to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven in front of people; for you do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are [in the process of] entering to do so.
AMP
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
ESV
'But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
NASB
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.
NIV
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.
NKJV
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.
NLT
"I've had it with you! You're hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God's kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won't let anyone else in either.
MSG