diff --git a/aeron-cluster/src/main/java/io/aeron/cluster/client/AeronCluster.java b/aeron-cluster/src/main/java/io/aeron/cluster/client/AeronCluster.java
index 449fdc1ad7..54f2662713 100644
--- a/aeron-cluster/src/main/java/io/aeron/cluster/client/AeronCluster.java
+++ b/aeron-cluster/src/main/java/io/aeron/cluster/client/AeronCluster.java
@@ -837,6 +837,16 @@ public void conclude()
             {
                 credentialsSupplier = new NullCredentialsSupplier();
             }
+
+            if (null == sessionMessageListener)
+            {
+                sessionMessageListener =
+                    (correlationId, clusterSessionId, timestamp, buffer, offset, length, header) ->
+                    {
+                        throw new IllegalStateException(
+                            "sessionMessageListener must be specified on AeronCluster.Context");
+                    };
+            }
         }
 
         /**