Matthew 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven before men; for you do not enter, nor do you allow those entering to go in.”

The next several verses of Matthew 23 are often called the eight woes. This is where Jesus turns to the scribes and Pharisees and says some pretty strong words to them. Occasionally, as we look at these verses, I will be using different versions of the Bible to help us understand the principle or meaning of Jesus' words. Some of these texts are hard to relate to since we don't do some of the practices mentioned. There are other Bible versions written in a way that is more relevant to the times we live in. Even though the wording is different the principle or basic meaning of the texts are still there.

The first woe, found in Matthew 23:13, is pretty straightforward. The Pharisees shut up the kingdom of Heaven by not believing in Christ and not allowing others to believe in Him. The Pharisees spent their time trying to prove Christ as a fraud. They were also jealous and worried about the number of people who did believe and follow Jesus. So they spent their time trying to tear down His reputation, and to find ways to discredit him. This is a common trait of hypocrites. Hypocrites know when they are falling short in their walk with God and they can't stand to see someone else who is doing better than themselves, or anyone who is getting more attention than they are. Instead of improving their ways and becoming better people, they spend their time trying to make others look bad in hopes the result will be that they will have made themselves look better in the process. However, it seldom works. It may work for a short time, but soon people see through the false front of the hypocrites and will eventually pull away from them. Christ lived a life of love and compassion. He spoke truth and did miracles for the benefit of others and to bring glory to God. The Pharisees did just the opposite. They made life harder for everyone else. They imposed difficult man-made rules upon the people. Their desire was to have people follow them, admire them, and in a disguised way, have people worship them.

Things have not changed much today. In almost every Christian church you find the same problem. One of the most common ways the Christian churches shut up the kingdom of Heaven is by putting the focus of their teaching on doctrine. There is nothing wrong with doctrine and it is good for people to understand the doctrine of their church, but not at the expense of forgetting the One behind the reason for the church. Too often churches teach doctrine more than they teach about Jesus, His life, His teaching, and our salvation through His death. I know of one church where the minister wanted to teach about Jesus, but the church board wanted him to teach more about doctrine than about Jesus. It was a real struggle for this minister. In my opinion, and from what I understand of Matthew 23:13, those church board members were wrong, the minister was right. There was another church who wanted their minister to teach less from the Bible. How can a church be a Christian church if they don't want to hear about Christ? The whole reason for Christian churches is our belief in Christ. That is were the word “Christian” comes from. If we are to be more like Christ then we need to be learning about Him, about what He did and taught on this earth. We need to be constantly reminded of the great sacrifice He made for us. When someone is teaching about Jesus, no one should be jealous of what they are doing or of the attention they are getting. Any attention they receive will be redirected to Jesus, which is where it belongs. That person should be encouraged and cheered on, not discouraged.

We must keep the Kingdom of heaven open. We need to keep our focus and teaching on Jesus. Jesus is what Christianity is all about.