Commentary: Was ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ anti-Semitic?

(Virginia Sherwood/NBC via AP) This image released by NBC shows John Legend as Jesus Christ and Sara Bareilles as Mary Magdalene from the NBC production, "Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert," airing April 1. Because, in one sense, that’s exactly what we saw on Sunday night’s television production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

The lyrics of the accompanying musical number leave little to the imagination. True to at least some of the Gospel accounts, the Jewish leaders need Jesus’ death.

For a largely illiterate population, the Passion play was the way that they learned the story of Jesus’ arrest, trial, execution and resurrection — along with the classic anti-Semitic elements that defined…