In this article, following contemporary literary critics, I analyze the macrostructure of Matthew's Gospel from a narrative/ plot perspective and explore the narrative function of the five major speeches in the macrostructure. In so doing, I propose a new solution to the longstanding debate on the macrostructure of Matthew-a solution that can take into account the two most treated structural formulae. As will be introduced, since previous scholarship that applied the first formula (sic) (sic) (sic) (sic) (sic) (sic) to structural analysis failed to recognize the narrative nature of Matthew, many scholars sought to apply narrative criticism and as a result, the second formula (sic) (sic) (sic) (sic) (sic) received considerable attention using such an approach. However, although scholars applying narrative criticism rightly treated the five major speeches of Jesus as embedded in the plot, many of them did not fully explore the narrative function of these speeches and consequently neglected a crucial turning point of the story. Thus, first building upon the emphasis of previous narrative approaches on the theme of "salvation history," I argue in this article that the formation of a community of disciples is one of the major axes of Matthew's plot and, as such, 9:36-10:1 is one of Matthew's major turning points. Second, by using reader-response criticism to explore the significant effect of the five major speeches on the "implied reader" of Matthew's Gospel, I further argue for the structural role of these five speeches in the plot. Therefore, all five speeches of Jesus are to be located in different narrative blocks and thus have different narrative functions within the plot.
