diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 50d2de3..eae83db 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.apache.sling</groupId>
             <artifactId>org.apache.sling.api</artifactId>
-            <version>2.16.0</version>
+            <version>2.21.0</version>
             <scope>provided</scope>
         </dependency>
     </dependencies>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/scripting/api/AbstractSlingScriptEngine.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/scripting/api/AbstractSlingScriptEngine.java
index 520f268..2586bbc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/scripting/api/AbstractSlingScriptEngine.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sling/scripting/api/AbstractSlingScriptEngine.java
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@
 import javax.script.ScriptContext;
 import javax.script.ScriptEngineFactory;
 import javax.script.ScriptException;
-import javax.script.SimpleBindings;
+
+import org.apache.sling.api.scripting.LazyBindings;
 
 public abstract class AbstractSlingScriptEngine extends AbstractScriptEngine {
 
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@
     }
 
     public Bindings createBindings() {
-        return new SimpleBindings();
+        return new LazyBindings();
     }
 
     public Object eval(String script, ScriptContext context) throws ScriptException {