diff --git a/aws-lambda-java-events/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/events/SQSEvent.java b/aws-lambda-java-events/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/events/SQSEvent.java
index 5b360834..cb96934b 100644
--- a/aws-lambda-java-events/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/events/SQSEvent.java
+++ b/aws-lambda-java-events/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/services/lambda/runtime/events/SQSEvent.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 import java.io.Serializable;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -360,6 +361,9 @@ public void setAttributes(Map<String, String> attributes) {
          * @return message attributes
          */
         public Map<String, MessageAttribute> getMessageAttributes() {
+            if (messageAttributes == null) {
+                return Collections.emptyMap();
+            }
             return messageAttributes;
         }