The Wise Answer Game

Truth, Courage, and Christian Citizenship

Children regularly encounter situations that make them feel as if they have only two choices—and both choices seem wrong.

A friend might say, “Let me copy your homework, or you are not really my friend.” Another child might insist, “Laugh at that student, or everyone will laugh at you.” These statements create pressure by pretending that there are only two possible responses.

Jesus faced a much more serious trap in Matthew 22:15–21. The Pharisees and Herodians asked whether it was lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar. They were not sincerely asking Jesus for guidance. They hoped that his answer would give them a reason to accuse him.

Jesus recognized their intentions. Instead of allowing his opponents to control the conversation, he asked to see the coin used to pay the tax. After they identified Caesar’s image and inscription, Jesus told them to give Caesar what belonged to Caesar and to God what belonged to God.

The Wise Answer Game helps children practice looking beyond a false choice. Working in teams, students develop responses that are truthful, loving, courageous, and responsible. The activity also introduces Christian citizenship: respecting legitimate responsibilities, contributing to the good of the community, and always remaining faithful to God.

By the end of the activity, students should be able to:

• Explain how the Pharisees tried to trap Jesus.
• Recognize a situation that presents a false choice.
• Develop a response that is both truthful and loving.
• Identify prudence, courage, justice, and charity in everyday decisions.
• Describe how responsible choices contribute to the good of a family, school, parish, or community.
• Understand that loyalty to God guides every other responsibility.

Allow approximately seven minutes for this lesson.

Hold up a coin and invite the students to examine it.

Ask:

• Whose image appears on this coin?
• What words or inscription can you find?
• What can a coin tell us about the country that made it?

Explain that the coin in today’s Gospel carried Caesar’s image and inscription. Caesar was the Roman ruler. The Pharisees’ question about paying taxes was designed to place Jesus in a difficult position. They wanted to force him into giving an answer that someone could use against him.

Read Matthew 22:15–21 aloud or invite several students to read the different speaking parts.

After the reading, say:

Jesus did not lie, become angry, or allow the Pharisees to choose his answer for him. He recognized the trap and answered with wisdom. He taught that people have real responsibilities in their communities, but they also belong to God. Our responsibility to God guides all our other choices.

Explain that wisdom does not simply mean being clever enough to escape trouble. Christian wisdom helps us recognize what is good and choose the right way to do it. The Church calls this virtue prudence. The Catechism describes prudence as recognizing the true good in a situation and choosing the right means of accomplishing it. Prudence works together with justice and courage. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1805–1808)

Introduce three questions students can use when they feel pressured:

1. Is it truthful?
2. Is it loving and respectful?
3. Does it help me do what is right?

Tell the students that a wise answer should pass all three tests. It should not use kindness as an excuse for dishonesty, and it should not use truth as an excuse for cruelty.

This kind of decision-making is also part of Christian citizenship. The Church teaches that citizens should contribute to the good of society through truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. For children, this begins with responsible participation in their families, schools, parishes, teams, and neighborhoods. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2238–2240)

Allow approximately 20 minutes for the game.

Prepare the Game

Before the session:

1. Copy or print the trap situations.
2. Cut them into individual cards.
3. Divide the students into teams of three to five.
4. Give each team paper and a pencil.
5. Write the three Wise Answer Tests where everyone can see them:
   • Is it truthful?
   • Is it loving and respectful?
   • Does it help accomplish what is right?

For a cooperative game, place 15 coins or tokens in the center of the room. The class’s goal is to earn all 15 before time expires.

For a competitive game, keep a separate score for each team.

Play the Game

1. Read one trap situation aloud or give each team a card.
2. Give teams 60–90 seconds to discuss the situation and prepare a wise response.
3. Remind students that they are not required to choose either of the responses offered in the trap. They may respectfully reject both choices and suggest something better.
4. Invite one spokesperson from each team to present its answer.
5. Award one point or token for each Wise Answer Test the response passes:
   • Truth Point: The response is honest and does not involve lying, cheating, pretending, or hiding wrongdoing.
   • Love Point: The response treats everyone with dignity and avoids insults, revenge, or unnecessary embarrassment.
   • Right Action Point: The response includes a responsible or helpful next step.
6. Ask the team to improve its answer if it is missing one of the three parts. A team might have a truthful answer that sounds unkind, or a kind answer that avoids doing what is right.
7. Rotate spokespersons so every child has an opportunity to participate.
8. Continue with new situations until time expires or the class reaches its point goal.

A wise answer does not have to match the leader’s sample word for word. More than one response can be appropriate if it is truthful, loving, and responsible.

1. Homework Pressure

• A friend says: “Either let me copy your homework, or admit that you are not really my friend.”
• Possible wise response: “I won’t give you my answers, but I can help you understand the assignment.”

2. Joining in Teasing

• A group says: “Either laugh at that student with us, or we will start laughing at you.”
• Possible wise response: “I’m not going to make fun of someone. Let’s do something that doesn’t hurt anybody.”

3. A Broken Classroom Item

You accidentally break something. A classmate says: “Either hide it, or you will get in terrible trouble.”

Possible wise response: “I need to tell the truth, apologize, and ask how I can help make it right.”

4. An Unfair Rule

• A student says: “Either agree that every rule is fair, or break any rule you dislike.”
• Possible wise response: “I can follow the rule for now and respectfully ask a teacher or another trusted adult to listen to my concern.”

5. Found Money

• A friend says: “Either keep the money you found, or give it to me.”
• Possible wise response: “It does not belong to either of us. We should turn it in so its owner can be found.”

6. Cheating to Help the Team

• A teammate says: “Either stay quiet about our cheating, or ruin the game for everyone.”
• Possible wise response: “Winning by cheating is not fair. We should tell the truth and ask how we can correct it.”

7. Excluding Someone

• A friend says: “Either sit with us, or invite the new student and sit somewhere else.”
• Possible wise response: “Let’s invite the new student to sit with all of us.”

8. Caring for the Community

• Someone drops trash in a park and says: “It isn’t yours, so either ignore it or clean the entire park yourself.”
• Possible wise response: “I can pick up what I safely can, invite others to help, and tell an adult if the area needs more attention.”

9. A Hurtful Rumor

• A classmate says: “Either repeat what you heard, or lie and say you never heard it.”
• Possible wise response: “I heard something, but I’m not going to spread a rumor that might hurt someone.”

10. An Unsafe Secret

• Someone says: “Either promise to keep this dangerous secret, or prove that you cannot be trusted.”
• Possible wise response: “I care about you, but I cannot keep a secret if someone might be hurt. I need to tell a trusted adult.”

11. Disagreeing with a Friend

• A friend says: “Either agree with my opinion, or admit that you do not care about me.”
• Possible wise response: “I care about you even when we disagree. I will listen to your reasons, and I hope you will listen to mine.”

12. Pressure to Choose Sides

• Two classmates are arguing. One says: “Either tell everyone I am right, or you are on the other person’s side.”
• Possible wise response: “I don’t have to attack either of you. I can listen to both sides and help you find a fair solution.”

Allow approximately 8–10 minutes.

Gather the students and discuss several of these questions:

• What made the situations feel like traps?
• Why did the person want you to believe there were only two choices?
• Was it difficult to find another response?
• Which Wise Answer Test was easiest?
• Which test was most difficult?
• Can a statement be truthful but unkind?
• Can a statement sound kind while helping someone do something wrong?
• Why does doing the right thing sometimes require courage?
• How was Jesus’ response similar to the answers you created?
• How can truthful and loving choices help a classroom or community?
• When should a child ask a trusted adult for help?

Emphasize that students should seek adult help whenever a situation involves danger, abuse, threats, serious wrongdoing, or something they do not know how to handle. A wise answer does not mean solving every problem alone.

The Catechism teaches that truthfulness involves being honest in both words and actions while avoiding hypocrisy and deceit. It also recognizes that truthfulness includes discretion, meaning that honesty does not require spreading private or harmful information. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2468–2470)

Christian citizenship is more than obeying rules without thinking. It means using truth, justice, courage, and charity to contribute to the common good.

Children practice Christian citizenship when they:

• Follow fair rules.
• Respect other people and their property.
• Tell the truth when something goes wrong.
• Include those who are left out.
• Care for shared spaces.
• Listen respectfully to different opinions.
• Ask for help when someone is in danger.
• Raise concerns respectfully instead of responding with dishonesty or revenge.
• Put love of God and neighbor ahead of popularity.

Christians respect legitimate authority, but no human authority replaces God. If children are told to do something harmful or seriously wrong, they should refuse safely and seek help from a parent, teacher, catechist, pastor, or another trusted adult.

• Keep the focus on the reasoning behind an answer, not merely its wording.
• Accept several possible answers when they satisfy all three tests.
• Do not reward a response simply because it is clever.
• Ask, “How could you make that answer more truthful?” or “How could you say that more lovingly?”
• Avoid asking children to share personal experiences involving serious conflict.
• Let students pass if a situation makes them uncomfortable.
• Use cooperative scoring if competition distracts students from thoughtful discussion.
• Remind students that calm, respectful words can still be firm and courageous.

For Third Grade

Read each situation aloud and allow teams to complete this sentence:

“I will not ________, but I can ________.”

Use six to eight cards instead of all twelve.

For Fourth and Fifth Grade

Require teams to identify the virtue shown in their answer: prudence, justice, courage, truthfulness, or charity.

Students can also create their own trap situation for another team to solve.

For a Small Group

Discuss one card at a time as a single group. Let students vote on whether the answer passes each of the three tests.

For a Larger Group

Give different cards to several teams at once. After teams present their responses, let the class suggest respectful improvements.

Loving God,

You are the source of all truth and wisdom.
Help us recognize what is right,
even when we feel confused or pressured.

Give us wisdom to choose well,
courage to tell the truth,
and love for every person.

Help us respect others,
serve our communities,
and remain faithful to you.

Holy Spirit, guide our words and actions
so that they bring justice, peace, and kindness.

Amen.

Invite students to watch for one false-choice situation during the coming week. It might happen at home, at school, during sports, or with friends.

Before responding, students can quietly ask:

• Is my response truthful?
• Is it loving and respectful?
• Will it help me do what is right?

At the next meeting, students may share what they learned without naming or embarrassing anyone involved.

More Youth Ministry Activities

Looking for more ways to help children and teens grow in faith? Our Youth Ministry Activities page has games, crafts, prayer ideas, service projects, and simple lessons.

Visit our youth ministry activities page when planning a religion class, youth group meeting, retreat, or family event. You will find ideas for many ages and settings. Each activity can help young people learn about Jesus and live their faith.