Whether we are currently the children or the parents we should model ourselves and our own families after Jesus’ family as best we can.

So, we should be modelling Mary and Joseph?

I won’t speculate on Jesus’ marital status.

Except being born into a family isn’t something we can model. We’re either born into a family or we’re not.

Also, given how little evidence there is that he was married and had children, should we follow suit?

We also see that Jesus had both brothers and sisters (Mark 6:3), at least one of which became a strong defender of the faith (Gal. 1:19).

Of course we cannot bypass the striking beauty of the scripture found in John 19 when, while dying upon the cross, Jesus gave the care of his mother Mary to John, one of his closest friends and disciples. Note that after he had put John in charge of his mother, the scripture notes “Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled”. That final act of seeing after his mother completed his mortal ministry.

It’s sad that in our own times the prophets must continually remind us how to handle the basics — and I’m not talking about the gospel per se. I’m talking about how to live a little better than vagabonds.