Concerning Jesus' final hours before being condemned– in particular, the disposition of the events which transpired in Gethsemane between the conclusion of Jesus 'last supper' and his arrest in the garden– the apostles Matthew, Mark, and Luke offer a record which is nothing short of fantastical. Such should not be the case. According to Moses' law, multiple witnesses are supposed to make a sure testimony: not a convoluted mess of testimony.
Moses wrote, "One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established [Deuteronomy 19:15, et. al.]." Therefore it stands to reason that the trifold multiplicity of documented witnesses to Jesus' and his disciples' words and acts in Gethsemane before his alleged condemnation and subsequent crucifixion should provide a solid, reliable account of the matters under examination. As with so much of the disharmonious gospels: such is not the case, here.
In fact, as a whole, the record so received is reminiscent of the apostle Mark's characterization of the testimony of the false witnesses who allegedly bore witness against Jesus at his hearing before the Sanhedrin, whose "witness agreed not together [Mark 14:56b, et. al.]." Individually, these three accounts of the same interlude in Gethsemane defy reason. When one "harmonizes" the three, the resulting composition is a dysphonic cacophony. I suppose this dissonance is one more reason the blind believe in a perceived necessity of faith to be likewise blinded to be authentic.
Upon their arrival at Gethsemane, the apostles Matthew and Mark allege Jesus "saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. 37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy [Matthew 26:36b - 37, et. al.]." The apostle Luke, on the other hand, says nothing in particular of the Boanerges and Peter, though he does explicitly state that Jesus "was withdrawn from [the disciples] about a stone's cast [Luke 22:41a]," when he "kneeled down, and prayed [ibid.]."
This latter is significant inasmuch as it was none other than the same Jesus who, according to the apostle Matthew, told his disciples to pray in secret, saying: "when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly [Matthew 6:6]." For Jesus to then pray "as the hypocrites [Matthew 6:5]": to not only be seen but likewise heard of men would be hypocritical. But all three of the apostles who bear record of the interlude in Gethsemane record the words Jesus allegedly prayed– from a stone's throw away.
Even more significant is the simple fact that all three of these witnesses claim to have been dead- asleep while Jesus so prayed. How could they then have knowledge of his exact words– even with the anachronistic assistance of electronic surveillance– without active recording equipment (also an anachronism) to boot? Yet they all somehow manage (in spite of all they disagree upon) to agree upon the exact words Jesus prayed: though Matthew says Jesus so prayed three times (Is this "vain repetitions," as per Matthew 6:7?); Mark says he so prayed two times; and Luke says one time.
Besides all these things, Luke furthermore claims that, while Jesus prayed (sweating "great drops of blood [which fell] down to the ground [Luke 22:44b],"): "there appeared an angel unto [Jesus] from heaven, strengthening him [Luke 22:43]." If you've read the gospels, you don't need me to tell you that if anything would have woke the disciples up (and probably made them run away [see Mark 6:49 & 50, and John 6:19 - 21; and Matthew 17:1 - 6, and Mark 9:2 - 6, et. al., for instance.]), it would have been the appearance of an angel from heaven and/or anyone sweating great drops of blood. The apostles were decidedly, and understandably, jumpy about such appearances and events.
In the final analysis: the testimonies under review here represent at least three lies, inasmuch as three people who admit to being asleep claim to have been cognizant of the things taking place around them as they slept; and, given Luke's embellishments to the narrative, probably more like five- or- more lies are extant in these three accounts. Perhaps it all these lies simply add up to one great lie: that Jesus of Nazareth ever existed. It would sure simplify things, if he didn't.
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