diff --git a/src/babashka/main.clj b/src/babashka/main.clj
index 4afe6e32..f338965f 100644
--- a/src/babashka/main.clj
+++ b/src/babashka/main.clj
@@ -481,7 +481,9 @@ If neither -e, -f, or --socket-repl are specified, then the first argument that
                                   (assoc-in ['clojure.java.io 'resource]
                                             (fn [path]
                                               (when-let [{:keys [:loader]} @cp-state]
-                                                (cp/getResource loader [path] {:url? true}))))
+                                                (try (cp/getResource loader [path] {:url? true})
+                                                     ;; non-relative paths don't work
+                                                     (catch Exception _e nil)))))
                                   (assoc-in ['user (with-meta '*input*
                                                      (when-not stream?
                                                        {:sci.impl/deref! true}))] input-var)
diff --git a/test/babashka/classpath_test.clj b/test/babashka/classpath_test.clj
index c03ade13..b4a8a960 100644
--- a/test/babashka/classpath_test.clj
+++ b/test/babashka/classpath_test.clj
@@ -55,4 +55,6 @@
     (.deleteOnExit tmp-file)
     (bb nil "--classpath" "logo" "-e" (format "(io/copy (io/input-stream (io/resource \"icon.png\")) (io/file \"%s\"))" (.getPath tmp-file)))
     (is (= (.length (io/file "logo" "icon.png"))
-           (.length tmp-file)))))
+           (.length tmp-file))))
+  (testing "No exception on absolute path"
+    (is (nil? (bb nil "(io/resource \"/tmp\")")))))