Was Jesus an exorcist

Answer 1

The ancients believed that all kinds of illness were caused by demons, especially epilepsy and mental illness, so the gospels are replete with stories of Jesus exorcising demons from those affected. The most awe inspiring of these exorcisms was when Jesus called thousands of demons out of the demoniac in the country of the Gadarenes, sending them into a herd of swine who then ran into the sea and drowned (Mark 5:1-20). This miracle was important not just for its demonstration of Jesus' power over demons, but because it introduces, through parallel association a theologically more important miracle.
A framework parallel structure encompasses all of Mark's Gospel, providing emphasis and developing themes not otherwise apparent, as can be seen in the following summary:

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

There are many parallels between the story of this exorcism and the story of Jesus restoring the sight of blind Bartimaeus, which together form a pair (pair L) in the parallel structure of Mark. For example, Jesus asked the wild man at Gadarene his name, the only time he does so in the entire gospel, but we are never told his name. The demons replied, saying 'Legion', a play on words because legion means a great many. Bartimaeus is not a name, because it simply means son of Timaeus in Aramaic, and the author is at pains to point out that he is the son of Timaeus. In Mark 5:1-20, the demoniac was wearing no clothes and cried out for Jesus not to torment him. Later, in Mark 10:46-52, Bartimaeus cried out for mercy and cast off his garment.

Dennis R. MacDonald has identified a number of close parallels between the story of the demoniac and a similar passage in Homer's Odyssey. He believes the demons said his name was 'Legion', as a deliberate reversal of when Polyphemus asked Odysseus for his name and he replied, 'Nobody'. We now find that in both passages, the person is a 'nobody' with no name. There is a similar explanation of the name Bartimaeus. Timaeus is an unlikely name for a Jew, as he must have been a Jew (hence Bartimaeus), but was a Greek name. This is also the name of a famous Dialogue by Plato, called Timaeus, about nature and creation.

Greeks learnt to read by studying the works of Homer and Plato, so when reading the story of Legion would have noticed parallels to Homer. When they then saw the story of Bartimaeus in a similar context, this would have brought to mind Plato's Timaeus. They could have wondered whether Plato had been writing about Jesus. This provides the background of just one of the exorcisms that Jesus performed, but the lesson of this exorcism can be applied in different ways to all his exorcisms.

Answer 2

It wasn't so called an exorcist. He was possessed by a demon but he made an exorcism to himself.

Answer 3

he did a bunch.

here's two examples:

matthew 8:28-34

and

mark 9:14-32

go look them up on an online bible, or your own.