diff --git a/include/qapi/qmp/json-parser.h b/include/qapi/qmp/json-parser.h
index 102f5c0068..a34209db7a 100644
--- a/include/qapi/qmp/json-parser.h
+++ b/include/qapi/qmp/json-parser.h
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
 
 #include "qemu-common.h"
 
-QObject *json_parser_parse(GQueue *tokens, va_list *ap);
-QObject *json_parser_parse_err(GQueue *tokens, va_list *ap, Error **errp);
+QObject *json_parser_parse(GQueue *tokens, va_list *ap, Error **errp);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/include/qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h b/include/qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h
index 7922e185a5..e162fd01da 100644
--- a/include/qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h
+++ b/include/qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h
@@ -25,7 +25,9 @@ typedef struct JSONToken {
 
 typedef struct JSONMessageParser
 {
-    void (*emit)(struct JSONMessageParser *parser, GQueue *tokens);
+    void (*emit)(void *opaque, QObject *json, Error *err);
+    void *opaque;
+    va_list *ap;
     JSONLexer lexer;
     int brace_count;
     int bracket_count;
@@ -37,7 +39,9 @@ void json_message_process_token(JSONLexer *lexer, GString *input,
                                 JSONTokenType type, int x, int y);
 
 void json_message_parser_init(JSONMessageParser *parser,
-                              void (*func)(JSONMessageParser *, GQueue *));
+                              void (*emit)(void *opaque, QObject *json,
+                                           Error *err),
+                              void *opaque, va_list *ap);
 
 void json_message_parser_feed(JSONMessageParser *parser,
                              const char *buffer, size_t size);
diff --git a/monitor.c b/monitor.c
index 94f673511b..08f799a7bb 100644
--- a/monitor.c
+++ b/monitor.c
@@ -59,7 +59,6 @@
 #include "qapi/qmp/qstring.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qjson.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h"
-#include "qapi/qmp/json-parser.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qlist.h"
 #include "qom/object_interfaces.h"
 #include "trace-root.h"
@@ -4256,18 +4255,15 @@ static void monitor_qmp_bh_dispatcher(void *data)
 
 #define  QMP_REQ_QUEUE_LEN_MAX  (8)
 
-static void handle_qmp_command(JSONMessageParser *parser, GQueue *tokens)
+static void handle_qmp_command(void *opaque, QObject *req, Error *err)
 {
-    QObject *req, *id = NULL;
+    Monitor *mon = opaque;
+    QObject *id = NULL;
     QDict *qdict;
-    MonitorQMP *mon_qmp = container_of(parser, MonitorQMP, parser);
-    Monitor *mon = container_of(mon_qmp, Monitor, qmp);
-    Error *err = NULL;
     QMPRequest *req_obj;
 
-    req = json_parser_parse_err(tokens, NULL, &err);
     if (!req && !err) {
-        /* json_parser_parse_err() sucks: can fail without setting @err */
+        /* json_parser_parse() sucks: can fail without setting @err */
         error_setg(&err, QERR_JSON_PARSING);
     }
 
@@ -4465,7 +4461,8 @@ static void monitor_qmp_event(void *opaque, int event)
         monitor_qmp_response_flush(mon);
         monitor_qmp_cleanup_queues(mon);
         json_message_parser_destroy(&mon->qmp.parser);
-        json_message_parser_init(&mon->qmp.parser, handle_qmp_command);
+        json_message_parser_init(&mon->qmp.parser, handle_qmp_command,
+                                 mon, NULL);
         mon_refcount--;
         monitor_fdsets_cleanup();
         break;
@@ -4683,7 +4680,8 @@ void monitor_init(Chardev *chr, int flags)
 
     if (monitor_is_qmp(mon)) {
         qemu_chr_fe_set_echo(&mon->chr, true);
-        json_message_parser_init(&mon->qmp.parser, handle_qmp_command);
+        json_message_parser_init(&mon->qmp.parser, handle_qmp_command,
+                                 mon, NULL);
         if (mon->use_io_thread) {
             /*
              * Make sure the old iowatch is gone.  It's possible when
diff --git a/qapi/qmp-dispatch.c b/qapi/qmp-dispatch.c
index 6f2d466596..d8da1a62de 100644
--- a/qapi/qmp-dispatch.c
+++ b/qapi/qmp-dispatch.c
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/dispatch.h"
-#include "qapi/qmp/json-parser.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qdict.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qjson.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qbool.h"
diff --git a/qga/main.c b/qga/main.c
index 87372d40ef..2fc49d00d8 100644
--- a/qga/main.c
+++ b/qga/main.c
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 #include <sys/wait.h>
 #endif
 #include "qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h"
-#include "qapi/qmp/json-parser.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qdict.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qjson.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qstring.h"
@@ -597,18 +596,13 @@ static void process_command(GAState *s, QDict *req)
 }
 
 /* handle requests/control events coming in over the channel */
-static void process_event(JSONMessageParser *parser, GQueue *tokens)
+static void process_event(void *opaque, QObject *obj, Error *err)
 {
-    GAState *s = container_of(parser, GAState, parser);
-    QObject *obj;
+    GAState *s = opaque;
     QDict *req, *rsp;
-    Error *err = NULL;
     int ret;
 
-    g_assert(s && parser);
-
     g_debug("process_event: called");
-    obj = json_parser_parse_err(tokens, NULL, &err);
     if (err) {
         goto err;
     }
@@ -1320,7 +1314,7 @@ static int run_agent(GAState *s, GAConfig *config, int socket_activation)
     s->command_state = ga_command_state_new();
     ga_command_state_init(s, s->command_state);
     ga_command_state_init_all(s->command_state);
-    json_message_parser_init(&s->parser, process_event);
+    json_message_parser_init(&s->parser, process_event, s, NULL);
 
 #ifndef _WIN32
     if (!register_signal_handlers()) {
diff --git a/qobject/json-parser.c b/qobject/json-parser.c
index 7bfa08200c..95fa348e21 100644
--- a/qobject/json-parser.c
+++ b/qobject/json-parser.c
@@ -541,12 +541,7 @@ static QObject *parse_value(JSONParserContext *ctxt, va_list *ap)
     }
 }
 
-QObject *json_parser_parse(GQueue *tokens, va_list *ap)
-{
-    return json_parser_parse_err(tokens, ap, NULL);
-}
-
-QObject *json_parser_parse_err(GQueue *tokens, va_list *ap, Error **errp)
+QObject *json_parser_parse(GQueue *tokens, va_list *ap, Error **errp)
 {
     JSONParserContext ctxt = { .buf = tokens };
     QObject *result;
diff --git a/qobject/json-streamer.c b/qobject/json-streamer.c
index 9f57ebf2bd..7fd0ff8756 100644
--- a/qobject/json-streamer.c
+++ b/qobject/json-streamer.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "qemu-common.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/json-lexer.h"
+#include "qapi/qmp/json-parser.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h"
 
 #define MAX_TOKEN_SIZE (64ULL << 20)
@@ -38,8 +39,9 @@ void json_message_process_token(JSONLexer *lexer, GString *input,
                                 JSONTokenType type, int x, int y)
 {
     JSONMessageParser *parser = container_of(lexer, JSONMessageParser, lexer);
+    Error *err = NULL;
     JSONToken *token;
-    GQueue *tokens;
+    QObject *json;
 
     switch (type) {
     case JSON_LCURLY:
@@ -97,19 +99,20 @@ out_emit:
     /* send current list of tokens to parser and reset tokenizer */
     parser->brace_count = 0;
     parser->bracket_count = 0;
-    /* parser->emit takes ownership of parser->tokens.  Remove our own
-     * reference to parser->tokens before handing it out to parser->emit.
-     */
-    tokens = parser->tokens;
+    json = json_parser_parse(parser->tokens, parser->ap, &err);
     parser->tokens = g_queue_new();
-    parser->emit(parser, tokens);
     parser->token_size = 0;
+    parser->emit(parser->opaque, json, err);
 }
 
 void json_message_parser_init(JSONMessageParser *parser,
-                              void (*func)(JSONMessageParser *, GQueue *))
+                              void (*emit)(void *opaque, QObject *json,
+                                           Error *err),
+                              void *opaque, va_list *ap)
 {
-    parser->emit = func;
+    parser->emit = emit;
+    parser->opaque = opaque;
+    parser->ap = ap;
     parser->brace_count = 0;
     parser->bracket_count = 0;
     parser->tokens = g_queue_new();
diff --git a/qobject/qjson.c b/qobject/qjson.c
index ab4040f235..7395556069 100644
--- a/qobject/qjson.c
+++ b/qobject/qjson.c
@@ -13,8 +13,6 @@
 
 #include "qemu/osdep.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
-#include "qapi/qmp/json-lexer.h"
-#include "qapi/qmp/json-parser.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qjson.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qbool.h"
@@ -27,16 +25,16 @@
 typedef struct JSONParsingState
 {
     JSONMessageParser parser;
-    va_list *ap;
     QObject *result;
     Error *err;
 } JSONParsingState;
 
-static void parse_json(JSONMessageParser *parser, GQueue *tokens)
+static void consume_json(void *opaque, QObject *json, Error *err)
 {
-    JSONParsingState *s = container_of(parser, JSONParsingState, parser);
+    JSONParsingState *s = opaque;
 
-    s->result = json_parser_parse_err(tokens, s->ap, &s->err);
+    s->result = json;
+    error_propagate(&s->err, err);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -54,9 +52,7 @@ static QObject *qobject_from_jsonv(const char *string, va_list *ap,
 {
     JSONParsingState state = {};
 
-    state.ap = ap;
-
-    json_message_parser_init(&state.parser, parse_json);
+    json_message_parser_init(&state.parser, consume_json, &state, ap);
     json_message_parser_feed(&state.parser, string, strlen(string));
     json_message_parser_flush(&state.parser);
     json_message_parser_destroy(&state.parser);
diff --git a/tests/check-qjson.c b/tests/check-qjson.c
index defc21fa04..604886a1a2 100644
--- a/tests/check-qjson.c
+++ b/tests/check-qjson.c
@@ -1438,7 +1438,6 @@ static void multiple_values(void)
     qobject_unref(obj);
 
     /* BUG simultaneously succeeds and fails */
-    /* BUG calls json_parser_parse() with errp pointing to non-null */
     obj = qobject_from_json("} true", &err);
     g_assert(qbool_get_bool(qobject_to(QBool, obj)));
     error_free_or_abort(&err);
diff --git a/tests/libqtest.c b/tests/libqtest.c
index af2a24e796..1f3b0cb1b1 100644
--- a/tests/libqtest.c
+++ b/tests/libqtest.c
@@ -21,9 +21,9 @@
 #include <sys/un.h>
 
 #include "libqtest.h"
+#include "qemu-common.h"
 #include "qemu/cutils.h"
 #include "qapi/error.h"
-#include "qapi/qmp/json-parser.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/json-streamer.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qdict.h"
 #include "qapi/qmp/qjson.h"
@@ -446,12 +446,10 @@ typedef struct {
     QDict *response;
 } QMPResponseParser;
 
-static void qmp_response(JSONMessageParser *parser, GQueue *tokens)
+static void qmp_response(void *opaque, QObject *obj, Error *err)
 {
-    QMPResponseParser *qmp = container_of(parser, QMPResponseParser, parser);
-    QObject *obj;
+    QMPResponseParser *qmp = opaque;
 
-    obj = json_parser_parse(tokens, NULL);
     if (!obj) {
         fprintf(stderr, "QMP JSON response parsing failed\n");
         abort();
@@ -468,7 +466,7 @@ QDict *qmp_fd_receive(int fd)
     bool log = getenv("QTEST_LOG") != NULL;
 
     qmp.response = NULL;
-    json_message_parser_init(&qmp.parser, qmp_response);
+    json_message_parser_init(&qmp.parser, qmp_response, &qmp, NULL);
     while (!qmp.response) {
         ssize_t len;
         char c;