diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala
index ff32c7c90a0d2aec657450f515c179460916f2a4..29baefe714c64b38ee7edc88a7ebdc20e3cfe539 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala
@@ -255,6 +255,7 @@ class HiveContext(sc: SparkContext) extends SQLContext(sc) {
   }
 
   // Note that HiveUDFs will be overridden by functions registered in this context.
+  @transient
   override protected[sql] lazy val functionRegistry =
     new HiveFunctionRegistry with OverrideFunctionRegistry