diff --git a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/IsJsonString.java b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/IsJsonString.java
index 56731c61295f..5587a4ae1e72 100644
--- a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/IsJsonString.java
+++ b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/IsJsonString.java
@@ -15,10 +15,8 @@
 
 package io.confluent.ksql.function.udf.json;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JacksonException;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectReader;
 import io.confluent.ksql.function.FunctionCategory;
+import io.confluent.ksql.function.KsqlFunctionException;
 import io.confluent.ksql.function.udf.Udf;
 import io.confluent.ksql.function.udf.UdfDescription;
 import io.confluent.ksql.function.udf.UdfParameter;
@@ -31,7 +29,6 @@
         + " otherwise.",
     author = KsqlConstants.CONFLUENT_AUTHOR)
 public class IsJsonString {
-  private static final ObjectReader OBJECT_READER = UdfJsonMapper.INSTANCE.get().reader();
 
   @Udf
   public Boolean check(@UdfParameter(description = "The input JSON string") final String input) {
@@ -40,9 +37,8 @@ public Boolean check(@UdfParameter(description = "The input JSON string") final
     }
 
     try {
-      final JsonNode node = OBJECT_READER.readTree(input);
-      return !node.isMissingNode();
-    } catch (final JacksonException e) {
+      return !UdfJsonMapper.parseJson(input).isMissingNode();
+    } catch (KsqlFunctionException e) {
       return false;
     }
   }
diff --git a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/JsonArrayContains.java b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/JsonArrayContains.java
index adc6207e04bf..0af2c9418971 100644
--- a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/JsonArrayContains.java
+++ b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/JsonArrayContains.java
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ public class JsonArrayContains {
   private static final JsonFactory PARSER_FACTORY = new JsonFactoryBuilder()
       .disable(CANONICALIZE_FIELD_NAMES)
       .build()
-      .setCodec(UdfJsonMapper.INSTANCE.get());
+      .setCodec(UdfJsonMapper.INSTANCE);
 
   private static final EnumMap<JsonToken, Predicate<Object>> TOKEN_COMPAT;
 
diff --git a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/JsonExtractString.java b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/JsonExtractString.java
index 3947a58a2481..d6c5bdf8c28d 100644
--- a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/JsonExtractString.java
+++ b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/JsonExtractString.java
@@ -20,12 +20,10 @@
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ArrayNode;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import io.confluent.ksql.function.FunctionCategory;
-import io.confluent.ksql.function.KsqlFunctionException;
 import io.confluent.ksql.function.udf.Udf;
 import io.confluent.ksql.function.udf.UdfDescription;
 import io.confluent.ksql.function.udf.UdfParameter;
 import io.confluent.ksql.util.json.JsonPathTokenizer;
-import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 
 @UdfDescription(
@@ -35,8 +33,6 @@
         + " JSONPath or NULL if the specified path does not exist.")
 public class JsonExtractString {
 
-  private static final ObjectReader OBJECT_READER = UdfJsonMapper.INSTANCE.get().reader();
-
   private String latestPath = null;
   private List<String> latestTokens = null;
 
@@ -56,7 +52,7 @@ public String extract(
       latestPath = path;
     }
 
-    JsonNode currentNode = parseJsonDoc(input);
+    JsonNode currentNode = UdfJsonMapper.parseJson(input);
     for (final String token : latestTokens) {
       if (currentNode instanceof ArrayNode) {
         try {
@@ -80,12 +76,4 @@ public String extract(
       return currentNode.toString();
     }
   }
-
-  private static JsonNode parseJsonDoc(final String jsonString) {
-    try {
-      return OBJECT_READER.readTree(jsonString);
-    } catch (final IOException e) {
-      throw new KsqlFunctionException("Invalid JSON format:" + jsonString, e);
-    }
-  }
 }
diff --git a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/UdfJsonMapper.java b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/UdfJsonMapper.java
index 7ab2182ec126..7db3f3953d8e 100644
--- a/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/UdfJsonMapper.java
+++ b/ksqldb-engine/src/main/java/io/confluent/ksql/function/udf/json/UdfJsonMapper.java
@@ -15,26 +15,57 @@
 
 package io.confluent.ksql.function.udf.json;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JacksonException;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationFeature;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectReader;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.JsonNodeFactory;
+import io.confluent.ksql.function.KsqlFunctionException;
 
 /**
  * Shared Object mapper used by JSON processing UDFs
  */
-public enum UdfJsonMapper {
+final class UdfJsonMapper {
 
-  INSTANCE;
+  private UdfJsonMapper() {}
 
-  private final ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper()
-      .disable(JsonGenerator.Feature.AUTO_CLOSE_TARGET)
-      .disable(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES)
-      .enable(DeserializationFeature.USE_BIG_DECIMAL_FOR_FLOATS)
-      .enable(JsonGenerator.Feature.WRITE_BIGDECIMAL_AS_PLAIN)
-      .setNodeFactory(JsonNodeFactory.withExactBigDecimals(true));
+  /**
+   * It is thread-safe to share an instance of the configured ObjectMapper
+   * (see https://fasterxml.github.io/jackson-databind/javadoc/2.12/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/ObjectReader.html for more details).
+   * The object is configured as part of static initialization, so it is published safely
+   * as well.
+   */
+  public static final ObjectMapper INSTANCE;
+  /**
+   * Akin to the {@link UdfJsonMapper#INSTANCE}, the reader is fully thread-safe, so there is
+   * no need to construct more than one instance. See https://fasterxml.github.io/jackson-databind/javadoc/2.12/com/fasterxml/jackson/databind/ObjectReader.html
+   * for more details.
+   */
+  private static final ObjectReader OBJECT_READER;
 
-  public ObjectMapper get() {
-    return mapper.copy();
+  static {
+    INSTANCE = new ObjectMapper()
+        .disable(JsonGenerator.Feature.AUTO_CLOSE_TARGET)
+        .disable(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES)
+        .enable(DeserializationFeature.USE_BIG_DECIMAL_FOR_FLOATS)
+        .enable(JsonGenerator.Feature.WRITE_BIGDECIMAL_AS_PLAIN)
+        .setNodeFactory(JsonNodeFactory.withExactBigDecimals(true));
+    OBJECT_READER = INSTANCE.reader();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Parses string into a {@link JsonNode}; throws {@link KsqlFunctionException} on invalid JSON.
+   *
+   * @param jsonString the string to parse
+   * @return a JSON node
+   */
+  public static JsonNode parseJson(final String jsonString) {
+    try {
+      return OBJECT_READER.readTree(jsonString);
+    } catch (final JacksonException e) {
+      throw new KsqlFunctionException("Invalid JSON format:" + jsonString, e);
+    }
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file