13: Jesus' body is removed from the cross

"After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body." - John 19:38

Had Joseph not intervened, Jesus's body would most likely have been unceremoniously dumped somewhere. After all, the Romans considered him a criminal, and had just executed him. It was through the persuasion of Joseph that Jesus's body not be considered that of an ordinary criminal, and that Joseph was close enough to family that he was allowed to take him off the cross.

I'd imagine that it wasn't too hard to persuade Pilate. In previous verses, it appears he doesn't want to execute Jesus, but is eventually forced to given the response of the crowd. So perhaps, by allowing Joseph to recover Jesus's body, Pilate felt he provided some atonement to his role in this man's death.

Even Pilate knew Jesus was someone different.