diff --git a/polaris-service/src/test/java/io/polaris/service/catalog/PolarisSparkIntegrationTest.java b/polaris-service/src/test/java/io/polaris/service/catalog/PolarisSparkIntegrationTest.java
index fbde8030b..7feec7d50 100644
--- a/polaris-service/src/test/java/io/polaris/service/catalog/PolarisSparkIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/polaris-service/src/test/java/io/polaris/service/catalog/PolarisSparkIntegrationTest.java
@@ -43,8 +43,10 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import org.apache.iceberg.rest.requests.ImmutableRegisterTableRequest;
 import org.apache.iceberg.rest.responses.LoadTableResponse;
+import org.apache.spark.sql.Dataset;
 import org.apache.spark.sql.Row;
 import org.apache.spark.sql.SparkSession;
+import org.intellij.lang.annotations.Language;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterAll;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
@@ -179,7 +181,7 @@ public void before() {
     spark =
         withCatalog(withCatalog(sessionBuilder, CATALOG_NAME), EXTERNAL_CATALOG_NAME).getOrCreate();
 
-    spark.sql("USE " + CATALOG_NAME);
+    onSpark("USE " + CATALOG_NAME);
   }
 
   private SparkSession.Builder withCatalog(SparkSession.Builder builder, String catalogName) {
@@ -215,14 +217,14 @@ public void after() {
   }
 
   private void cleanupCatalog(String catalogName) {
-    spark.sql("USE " + catalogName);
-    List<Row> namespaces = spark.sql("SHOW NAMESPACES").collectAsList();
+    onSpark("USE " + catalogName);
+    List<Row> namespaces = onSpark("SHOW NAMESPACES").collectAsList();
     for (Row namespace : namespaces) {
-      List<Row> tables = spark.sql("SHOW TABLES IN " + namespace.getString(0)).collectAsList();
+      List<Row> tables = onSpark("SHOW TABLES IN " + namespace.getString(0)).collectAsList();
       for (Row table : tables) {
-        spark.sql("DROP TABLE " + namespace.getString(0) + "." + table.getString(1));
+        onSpark("DROP TABLE " + namespace.getString(0) + "." + table.getString(1));
       }
-      spark.sql("DROP NAMESPACE " + namespace.getString(0));
+      onSpark("DROP NAMESPACE " + namespace.getString(0));
     }
     try (Response response =
         EXT.client()
@@ -240,36 +242,36 @@ private void cleanupCatalog(String catalogName) {
 
   @Test
   public void testCreateTable() {
-    long namespaceCount = spark.sql("SHOW NAMESPACES").count();
+    long namespaceCount = onSpark("SHOW NAMESPACES").count();
     assertThat(namespaceCount).isEqualTo(0L);
 
-    spark.sql("CREATE NAMESPACE ns1");
-    spark.sql("USE ns1");
-    spark.sql("CREATE TABLE tb1 (col1 integer, col2 string)");
-    spark.sql("INSERT INTO tb1 VALUES (1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c')");
-    long recordCount = spark.sql("SELECT * FROM tb1").count();
+    onSpark("CREATE NAMESPACE ns1");
+    onSpark("USE ns1");
+    onSpark("CREATE TABLE tb1 (col1 integer, col2 string)");
+    onSpark("INSERT INTO tb1 VALUES (1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c')");
+    long recordCount = onSpark("SELECT * FROM tb1").count();
     assertThat(recordCount).isEqualTo(3);
   }
 
   @Test
   public void testCreateAndUpdateExternalTable() {
-    long namespaceCount = spark.sql("SHOW NAMESPACES").count();
+    long namespaceCount = onSpark("SHOW NAMESPACES").count();
     assertThat(namespaceCount).isEqualTo(0L);
 
-    spark.sql("CREATE NAMESPACE ns1");
-    spark.sql("USE ns1");
-    spark.sql("CREATE TABLE tb1 (col1 integer, col2 string)");
-    spark.sql("INSERT INTO tb1 VALUES (1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c')");
-    long recordCount = spark.sql("SELECT * FROM tb1").count();
+    onSpark("CREATE NAMESPACE ns1");
+    onSpark("USE ns1");
+    onSpark("CREATE TABLE tb1 (col1 integer, col2 string)");
+    onSpark("INSERT INTO tb1 VALUES (1, 'a'), (2, 'b'), (3, 'c')");
+    long recordCount = onSpark("SELECT * FROM tb1").count();
     assertThat(recordCount).isEqualTo(3);
 
-    spark.sql("USE " + EXTERNAL_CATALOG_NAME);
-    List<Row> existingNamespaces = spark.sql("SHOW NAMESPACES").collectAsList();
+    onSpark("USE " + EXTERNAL_CATALOG_NAME);
+    List<Row> existingNamespaces = onSpark("SHOW NAMESPACES").collectAsList();
     assertThat(existingNamespaces).isEmpty();
 
-    spark.sql("CREATE NAMESPACE externalns1");
-    spark.sql("USE externalns1");
-    List<Row> existingTables = spark.sql("SHOW TABLES").collectAsList();
+    onSpark("CREATE NAMESPACE externalns1");
+    onSpark("USE externalns1");
+    List<Row> existingTables = onSpark("SHOW TABLES").collectAsList();
     assertThat(existingTables).isEmpty();
 
     LoadTableResponse tableResponse = loadTable(CATALOG_NAME, "ns1", "tb1");
@@ -293,16 +295,16 @@ public void testCreateAndUpdateExternalTable() {
       assertThat(registerResponse).returns(Response.Status.OK.getStatusCode(), Response::getStatus);
     }
 
-    long tableCount = spark.sql("SHOW TABLES").count();
+    long tableCount = onSpark("SHOW TABLES").count();
     assertThat(tableCount).isEqualTo(1);
-    List<Row> tables = spark.sql("SHOW TABLES").collectAsList();
+    List<Row> tables = onSpark("SHOW TABLES").collectAsList();
     assertThat(tables).hasSize(1).extracting(row -> row.getString(1)).containsExactly("mytb1");
-    long rowCount = spark.sql("SELECT * FROM mytb1").count();
+    long rowCount = onSpark("SELECT * FROM mytb1").count();
     assertThat(rowCount).isEqualTo(3);
-    assertThatThrownBy(() -> spark.sql("INSERT INTO mytb1 VALUES (20, 'new_text')"))
+    assertThatThrownBy(() -> onSpark("INSERT INTO mytb1 VALUES (20, 'new_text')"))
         .isInstanceOf(Exception.class);
 
-    spark.sql("INSERT INTO " + CATALOG_NAME + ".ns1.tb1 VALUES (20, 'new_text')");
+    onSpark("INSERT INTO " + CATALOG_NAME + ".ns1.tb1 VALUES (20, 'new_text')");
     tableResponse = loadTable(CATALOG_NAME, "ns1", "tb1");
     TableUpdateNotification updateNotification =
         new TableUpdateNotification(
@@ -328,8 +330,8 @@ public void testCreateAndUpdateExternalTable() {
           .returns(Response.Status.NO_CONTENT.getStatusCode(), Response::getStatus);
     }
     // refresh the table so it queries for the latest metadata.json
-    spark.sql("REFRESH TABLE mytb1");
-    rowCount = spark.sql("SELECT * FROM mytb1").count();
+    onSpark("REFRESH TABLE mytb1");
+    rowCount = onSpark("SELECT * FROM mytb1").count();
     assertThat(rowCount).isEqualTo(4);
   }
 
@@ -348,4 +350,8 @@ private LoadTableResponse loadTable(String catalog, String namespace, String tab
       return response.readEntity(LoadTableResponse.class);
     }
   }
+
+  private static Dataset<Row> onSpark(@Language("SQL") String sql) {
+    return spark.sql(sql);
+  }
 }