diff --git a/archetypes/spark/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml b/archetypes/spark/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml
index c78e6d127..a725d7677 100644
--- a/archetypes/spark/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml
+++ b/archetypes/spark/src/main/resources/archetype-resources/pom.xml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
         <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
         <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
         <jackson.version>2.9.5</jackson.version>
-        <spark.version>2.7.2</spark.version>
+        <spark.version>2.8.0</spark.version>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/pom.xml b/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/pom.xml
index 5aac26d26..e47a0692b 100644
--- a/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/pom.xml
+++ b/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/pom.xml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
     </parent>
 
     <properties>
-        <spark.version>2.7.2</spark.version>
+        <spark.version>2.8.0</spark.version>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
diff --git a/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServer.java b/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServer.java
index 1db167ae5..f4f227c4e 100644
--- a/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServer.java
+++ b/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServer.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+import spark.ExceptionMapper;
 import spark.embeddedserver.EmbeddedServer;
 import spark.embeddedserver.jetty.websocket.WebSocketHandlerWrapper;
 import spark.http.matching.MatcherFilter;
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ public class LambdaEmbeddedServer
     //-------------------------------------------------------------
 
     private Routes applicationRoutes;
+    private ExceptionMapper exceptionMapper;
     private MatcherFilter sparkFilter;
     private StaticFilesConfiguration staticFilesConfiguration;
     private boolean hasMultipleHandler;
@@ -34,14 +36,15 @@ public class LambdaEmbeddedServer
     // Constructors
     //-------------------------------------------------------------
 
-    LambdaEmbeddedServer(Routes routes, StaticFilesConfiguration filesConfig, boolean multipleHandlers) {
+    LambdaEmbeddedServer(Routes routes, StaticFilesConfiguration filesConfig, ExceptionMapper exceptionMapper, boolean multipleHandlers) {
         Timer.start("SPARK_EMBEDDED_SERVER_CONSTRUCTOR");
         applicationRoutes = routes;
         staticFilesConfiguration = filesConfig;
         hasMultipleHandler = multipleHandlers;
+        this.exceptionMapper = exceptionMapper;
 
         // try to initialize the filter here.
-        sparkFilter = new MatcherFilter(applicationRoutes, staticFilesConfiguration, true, hasMultipleHandler);
+        sparkFilter = new MatcherFilter(applicationRoutes, staticFilesConfiguration, exceptionMapper, true, hasMultipleHandler);
         Timer.stop("SPARK_EMBEDDED_SERVER_CONSTRUCTOR");
     }
 
@@ -50,17 +53,17 @@ public class LambdaEmbeddedServer
     // Implementation - EmbeddedServer
     //-------------------------------------------------------------
     @Override
-    public int ignite(String s, int i, SslStores sslStores, int i1, int i2, int i3)
+    public int ignite(String host, int port, SslStores sslStores, int maxThreads, int minThreads, int threadIdleTimeoutMillis)
             throws ContainerInitializationException {
         Timer.start("SPARK_EMBEDDED_IGNITE");
         log.info("Starting Spark server, ignoring port and host");
         // if not initialized yet
         if (sparkFilter == null) {
-            sparkFilter = new MatcherFilter(applicationRoutes, staticFilesConfiguration, true, hasMultipleHandler);
+            sparkFilter = new MatcherFilter(applicationRoutes, staticFilesConfiguration, exceptionMapper, true, hasMultipleHandler);
         }
         sparkFilter.init(null);
         Timer.stop("SPARK_EMBEDDED_IGNITE");
-        return i;
+        return port;
     }
 
 
diff --git a/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServerFactory.java b/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServerFactory.java
index 255e442a2..a73b0005c 100644
--- a/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServerFactory.java
+++ b/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServerFactory.java
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import com.amazonaws.serverless.proxy.internal.testutils.Timer;
 
 import edu.umd.cs.findbugs.annotations.SuppressFBWarnings;
+import spark.ExceptionMapper;
 import spark.embeddedserver.EmbeddedServer;
 import spark.embeddedserver.EmbeddedServerFactory;
 import spark.route.Routes;
@@ -39,10 +40,10 @@ public LambdaEmbeddedServerFactory(LambdaEmbeddedServer server) {
 
 
     @Override
-    public EmbeddedServer create(Routes routes, StaticFilesConfiguration staticFilesConfiguration, boolean multipleHandlers) {
+    public EmbeddedServer create(Routes routes, StaticFilesConfiguration staticFilesConfiguration, ExceptionMapper exceptionMapper, boolean multipleHandlers) {
         Timer.start("SPARK_SERVER_FACTORY_CREATE");
         if (embeddedServer == null) {
-            LambdaEmbeddedServerFactory.embeddedServer = new LambdaEmbeddedServer(routes, staticFilesConfiguration, multipleHandlers);
+            LambdaEmbeddedServerFactory.embeddedServer = new LambdaEmbeddedServer(routes, staticFilesConfiguration, exceptionMapper, multipleHandlers);
         }
         Timer.stop("SPARK_SERVER_FACTORY_CREATE");
         return embeddedServer;
diff --git a/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServerTest.java b/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServerTest.java
index af4dc275c..8a0e1f4eb 100644
--- a/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServerTest.java
+++ b/aws-serverless-java-container-spark/src/test/java/com/amazonaws/serverless/proxy/spark/embeddedserver/LambdaEmbeddedServerTest.java
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 
 public class LambdaEmbeddedServerTest {
-    private static LambdaEmbeddedServer server = new LambdaEmbeddedServer(null, null, false);
+    private static LambdaEmbeddedServer server = new LambdaEmbeddedServer(null, null, null, false);
 
     @Test
     public void webSocket_configureWebSocket_noException() {
diff --git a/samples/spark/pet-store/pom.xml b/samples/spark/pet-store/pom.xml
index 6cd8af479..320686170 100644
--- a/samples/spark/pet-store/pom.xml
+++ b/samples/spark/pet-store/pom.xml
@@ -27,14 +27,14 @@
         <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
         <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
         <jackson.version>2.9.4</jackson.version>
-        <spark.version>2.7.2</spark.version>
+        <spark.version>2.8.0</spark.version>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.amazonaws.serverless</groupId>
             <artifactId>aws-serverless-java-container-spark</artifactId>
-            <version>[0.1,)</version>
+            <version>[0.2,)</version>
         </dependency>
 
         <!-- https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.sparkjava/spark-core -->