Lucas 7:17

Luke concluded this pericope with a notation that the news (Gr. logos, word) about this incident radiated over that entire region (cf. Luke 4:14; Luke 4:37). The surrounding district probably refers to the area beyond Judea that included Perea where John heard of Jesus’ mighty works (Luke 7:18).

"Jesus’ amazing healings and exorcisms contribute to the very rapid spread of his fame. Comparison of the following statements shows how the narrator conveys an impression of rapidly growing fame: After the exorcism in the synagogue of Capernaum, ’a report about him was going out to every place of the neighboring area’ (Luke 4:37). After the healing of the leper, ’the word about him was spreading more’ (Luke 5:15). In the next scene Pharisees and teachers of the law are present ’from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem’ (Luke 5:17). This is surpassed in Luke 6:17-18, where we hear of ’a great multitude of the people from all the Jewish land and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and be healed.’ We reach the climax of this development in Luke 7:17: ’And this statement about him went out in the whole Jewish country and all the neighboring region.’" [Note: Tannehill, 1:85-86.]

In Acts the spread of the news about Jesus would go from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

This incident doubtless became the basis for many people concluding that Jesus was either the fulfillment of the prophecy about Elijah’s return (Malachi 4:5-6) or Elijah himself (Luke 9:8). Hopefully it brought others into saving faith in Him.