Rachmaninov’s Tractor

Rachmaninov’s Tractor

Sergei Rachmaninov has been one of my favorite classical composers for a long time. He was a great pianist with big hands and could cover a lot of territory on the keyboard. He composed for symphonies and concertos for individual instruments, such as piano and cello. His choral work, “Vocalise,” is beautiful.

Sergei grew up and performed in Russia just before the 1917 Russian revolution which swept away the Czar and serfdom, and brought in the terrors of Lenin and Stalin. It was a very difficult time for “professional” people as the peasants raged, with clearance from what passed as government at the time, pillaging and killing those who had any marks of privilege associated with their lifestyle. Rachmaninov certainly fit this description, having a large farm which was worked with about one hundred horses.

But Sergei had seen pictures of this new thing called an American tractor, and what he saw, he wanted. He approached a government agency to get approval for the purchase, and the official sought to persuade him to stick with horses. But the man asked, “But if you got one, what would you do with it?” Sergei responded, “I would drive it myself.” The official put through the approval. These things take time, and before he could ever get his American tractor, Sergei and his family had to flee the country, and they came, of all places, to America, where he performed his works, without a farm, and without a tractor.

We feel bad for Sergei, but it fits the category of things that we sincerely desire, but that we will never get. The world offers so many things, but there are strings attached - hoops to jump through; forms to fill out; credit (debt) for which we apply; changing circumstances; and, the brevity of life. Face it,
you will never get all those things the world offers that grab your attention and your heart. And when we live this way, we die disappointed and bitter.

Abraham, not a pianist, also died without having received what was promised. But he did not die disappointed and bitter. He died hopeful, in faith that what God had promised, God would in fact deliver. In fact, Abraham has more and better than was promised. Praise the Lord. God and this world are two very different entities (I am speaking of “world” here not as the created order which God called “good,” but of the present world order which seeks to deny God’s existence or to treat Him as though He does not matter). The world promises, and yet extracts. It gives in order to own you. It eats its own. God, on the other hand, gives, not always presently, but will deliver, perhaps now, and certainly in the end, in ways that surpass our desires and expectations. God is building a people and is building individuals who will wait in hope for the best, which is yet to come.

There are a lot of old men who just love tractors. That’s fine. But a tractor is not capable of delivering lasting joy. Why? It is a rusting, deteriorating relic of this passing age. The new age, reserved for those who happily receive God’s gifts (most importantly, His own Son), will be characterized by this lasting joy. No disappointment; no bitterness.