diff --git a/src/main/java/io/shiftleft/controller/SearchController.java b/src/main/java/io/shiftleft/controller/SearchController.java
index faa409760..24ba364ae 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/shiftleft/controller/SearchController.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/shiftleft/controller/SearchController.java
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ public String doGetSearch(@RequestParam String foo, HttpServletResponse response
     try {
       ExpressionParser parser = new SpelExpressionParser();
       Expression exp = parser.parseExpression(foo);
-      message = (Object) exp.getValue();
+      SimpleEvaluationContext context = SimpleEvaluationContext.forReadWriteDataBinding().build();
+      message = (Object) exp.getValue(context);
     } catch (Exception ex) {
       System.out.println(ex.getMessage());
     }