Speeches

Tony Blair’s speech at the official opening of the Baptism Centre in Jordan

So this is where John the Baptist, in his garment of camel's hair, fed on locusts and wild honey, preached and worked and baptised Our Lord.

John, who called the people to repentance, called them to change their ways, called them above all to return and be true to God,

Not to worship by words but by deeds; not to offer sacrifice by burnt offerings, but by relinquishing selfish desires and seeking the common good.

This Baptism happened on these banks nearly 2000 years ago. A moment in time with a consequence in eternity.

What was it that John in his ministry and Our Lord Jesus Christ in his, represented to the world?

First, that doctrine may be a support but can never be a substitute for the essence of faith which is: the demonstration of God's love; of its power; of its mercy; of its plea to us to break free of the narrow confines of daily living and to discover the meaning of life.

Second, the honesty of it, the witness to truth even, though truth meant death; John because he refused to countenance the behaviour of Herod; Our Lord because he refused to deny his nature or his mission, preferring to lose his life when so easily he could have yielded to Pilate, and kept it. But he chose not to save himself from pain, but to save us for redemption.

Thirdly, what was this Baptism that John gave to those masses by the River Jordan? It was a baptism of renewal, and renewal open to all who would submit to God.

And as for Our Lord, examine what he did. He returns to the synagogue of his home town of Nazareth in Galilee and reminds them that Elisha was sent not to the lepers of Israel but to Naaman the Syrian.

He gives healing not only to his fellow Jews but to the Canaanite woman from Tyre and Sidon.

And in one of the most famous parables, he extols the virtue of the Good Samaritan, the stranger, over those who were supposedly devout believers.

Jesus said: 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.'

His Ministry was not bounded by race, or tribe; but boundless, a ministry of universal appeal and affection.

His love reached out. It was not hoarded. It was freely given.

So here we are, 2000 years later, in this same spot. Except today, we are in a Muslim land. And a short distance from here lies Jerusalem and sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.

It took courage and leadership for Jordan to allow us this site of baptism, here by this ancient river. But it took more. It took the same spirit that animated John and Jesus, and the Prophet Mohammed and all the Prophets of old. Each took the world as it was - alienated from God - and tried to make it how it should be - reconciled to God Justice, mercy, compassion, the 'us'' not the 'me', pure unselfish love. This is what they stood for.

Back then, their world was small. But their message was not. And in the larger world we inhabit today, where we travel through continents and time zones, their message is the same message today, centuries later.

Don't look inwards, but look outwards.

Don't exclude, embrace.

Don't argue about your differences, but understand what you share and fulfil a common purpose blessed by God.

This site is not a place of archaeology it is a place that now, as in John's time, is a place for renewal.

When Moses shattered the golden calf and called on the people to worship the one true God, he renewed the idea of faith, removing it from the realm of superstition to the realm of belief.

When Jesus opened our eyes to the true will of God, he renewed the idea of faith not as legalistic ritual, but as love, love of God and love of our neighbour as our self.

When the Prophet Mohammed took the stone of Ka'aba and made it the place of Hadj, he transformed it from a place of pagan idolatry and transformed it into a testament of submission to God's will.

So, in dedicating this site, let us too renew. Renew our faith in our God, in our Lord, and in his message: that true love is not measured in the receiving but the giving; and the giving, not limited by human prejudice but enlarged by the infinite possibility of the love of God.

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