What did Jesus say about exorcism in the Gospels?

QUESTION?

What did jesus say about exorcism in the Gospels?

ANSWER!

Perhaps wary of the human fascination with occult things, Jesus did not give many teachings about the devil or exorcism.  However, His few teachings almost always relate to the devil's defeat and expulsion.  For example, when His disciples returned from their first missionary excursion into Palestine, He told them that He saw "the devil fall like lightning from heaven. "  The night before He died, He told them that "the prince of this world is cast out." He told them that "the gates of hell shall not prevail," meaning that the gates of evil will not withstand the onslaught of the Church's attack.  And He even told them that various evil things they would encounter in their ministry: poison, snakes, sickness, etc., would be powerless to harm them if they carried out His mission with fidelity.  The Lord's few references to the devil emboldened His disciples to use the spiritual authority of Christ against evil with confidence that they would always prevail.

The Lord did give His disciples explicit instructions about exorcism in several places though: first, when He sent them out on their inaugural public mission for the Kingdom, He explicitly instructed them to cast out demons.  The disciples were so noticeably affected by their "success" against demons that Jesus had to remind them that it was not their power but their election in heaven that mattered most.  Secondly, He also gave Peter and the Church the power to "bind and loose," which is interpreted as a spiritual/moral power to hold humans and demons accountable to God through His Church.  Finally, at His Ascension into heaven, the Lord told His disciples that a sign of His Kingdom on earth would be that they would "expel demons in my Name."

By Fr. Thomas J Euteneuer "Exorcism and The Church Militant" page 3.