If you’re looking for a church in Colorado Springs that’s rooted in the finished work of Jesus and learning to live from union, this Sunday’s message at The Gathering Colorado Springs carried a clear invitation: God is adjusting our lens.

Not just for our local community—but for the capital-C Church.

In this teaching, we sat with three post-resurrection encounters where Jesus is present… yet not immediately recognized. And through them, the Spirit pressed a question into our shared life:

How do we recognize Christ among us now?

Watch the Message

Watch here (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/live/tv7pqSmxHkMsi=9ZrUZS9jcYjQpayT

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A New Lens for a Shaken Church

There’s a shaking happening—systems, assumptions, ministries, narratives, and the ways we’ve learned to relate to God and to one another. But the invitation in The Gathering Colorado Springs right now isn’t fear. It’s clarity.

A resurrected lens.

A way of seeing that’s not built on performance, platforms, or “one-man show” Christianity—but on the shared life of Christ in His body.

And that kind of seeing requires maturity, humility, and unoffendable hearts.

We are learning to discern together.

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Post-Resurrection Jesus and the Mystery of Not Recognizing Him

In the Gospels, there are multiple moments after the resurrection where Jesus appears and people don’t recognize Him at first. That’s not a throwaway detail. It’s a spiritual invitation.

1) Mary Magdalene: Recognizing Him by Voice

John 20 holds the first account.

Mary is standing face-to-face with Jesus—yet she assumes He is the gardener. It’s only when He speaks her name that her eyes open.

John 10 echoes underneath this moment:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Recognition doesn’t come through appearance. It comes through relationship—through the voice that calls you by name.

And the implication is stunning: Jesus is teaching Mary how He will be found from now on.

Not merely as the man she walked with before… but as the living Christ encountered in a new way.

2) The Road to Emmaus: Recognizing Him in the Breaking of Bread

In Luke 24, two disciples walk with Jesus for miles. Their hearts burn as He opens the Scriptures—yet their eyes still don’t recognize Him.

And then it happens:

At the table.
In the blessing.
In the breaking.
In the giving.

Luke 24 says their eyes were opened in the breaking of the bread.

Communion is not a religious add-on. It’s a doorway of participation—the shared life of Christ given to us.

And for many of us, we are only beginning to understand what communion truly is: not merely remembrance, but encounter.

3) John 21: Recognizing Him through Simple Obedience in the Labor

In John 21, the disciples fish all night and catch nothing.

Then Jesus speaks: cast the net on the right side.

They obey.
The nets fill.
And suddenly John says:

“It is the Lord.”

This recognition comes in the labor—through simple obedience when our own ideas have run dry.

Sometimes you don’t know it’s God until the moment you yield and the fruit tells the truth.

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The Pattern: Resurrection Changes How We Recognize Jesus

Across all three accounts, a pattern forms:

• Mary recognizes Him by voice
• The disciples recognize Him by communion
• The fishermen recognize Him by obedience in shared labor

In every case, recognition does not come through outward appearance. It comes through presence—through the ways Jesus gives Himself.

Which means resurrection is not only about how Jesus is known. It’s also about how we now see one another.

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From Now On: Seeing No One According to the Flesh

Paul names this shift directly:

2 Corinthians 5 is a “from now on” passage.

“From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.”

This is the resurrected lens.

We once related to Jesus in one body walking the earth.
Now we discover Him in His body—the community of people He inhabits.

And from that place, Paul says we are entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation.

Not a side ministry.
Not an optional track.

The ministry.

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The Greatest Commandments Require a Resurrected Lens

When Jesus is asked what matters most, He answers:

Mark 12
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
“You shall love the Lord your God…”
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The command is a response to a proclamation: God is undivided. And because we are made in His image, we are invited out of fragmentation and into wholeness—into love.

But loving your neighbor is not merely moral effort.

It is perception.

It is learning to see Christ where resurrection has placed Him: in the midst of His people, and even hidden in the ones who do not yet know what is true of them.

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Christ in You: The Hidden Mystery Made Known

Paul says the mystery long hidden is now revealed:

Colossians 1
“This mystery… is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

This is not soft theology. This is the center of the gospel: God has done the reconciling work in Christ, and our calling is to announce what is true—to help people wake up to the belonging that has already been secured.

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The Gospel as Jesus Tells It: The Treasure Hidden in the Field

We ended with Jesus’ parable:

Matthew 13:44
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

So many of us were taught: you are the man; go find the treasure.

But Jesus already told us what the field is: the world.

In this telling:

Jesus is the man.
And we are the treasure.

He isn’t bargaining. He isn’t reluctant. He’s not trying to get a deal.

In His joy, He pays full price.

The gospel doesn’t produce pride. It produces gratitude.

And when we receive God’s assessment of our worth, it reshapes how we see our neighbor—because we can no longer treat “the other” as disposable once we’ve been healed by hesed love.

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Building The Gathering Colorado Springs on Hesed

From the beginning, we’ve wanted our starting point to be hesed—God’s loyal love, mercy, and lovingkindness.

Not “fix yourself first.”
Not “climb the ladder.”
Not “perform to belong.”

But unconditional regard—because that’s how God has met us.

And as we grow as a local church in Colorado Springs, we are learning what it looks like for the body to minister to the body—without celebrity, without spiritual elitism, without the pressure of performance.

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Next Step: Find Him in the One Next to You

The invitation at the end of the message was simple and courageous:
to practice the resurrected lens.

To look someone in the eyes.
To bless them.
To pray.
To remember: Christ is in your neighbor.

That’s not sentimentality.
That’s training our sight.

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Connect With Us in Colorado Springs

If you’re near Colorado Springs and looking for a church family rooted in the finished work of Jesus:

The Gathering meets Sundays at 10:00 a.m. in Colorado Springs.
720 Elkton Dr. Colorado Springs, CO 80907

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Join Company 318

If you’re leading a prayer group—or longing for deeper connection and covenant friendship—Company 318 is a growing network across the nation centered on prayer, union, and shared life.

• Start here: Company318.com
• Also join the community on Substack: https://company318.substack.com/