diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/utils/resource_lock.c b/src/backend/distributed/utils/resource_lock.c
index 1a964cdeb..9a0010141 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/utils/resource_lock.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/utils/resource_lock.c
@@ -893,12 +893,12 @@ LockParentShardResourceIfPartition(List *shardIntervalList, LOCKMODE lockMode)
 
 
 /*
- * LockModeTextToLockMode gets a lockMode name and returns its corresponding LOCKMODE.
+ * LockModeCStringToLockMode gets a lockMode name and returns its corresponding LOCKMODE.
  * The function errors out if the input lock mode isn't defined in the PostgreSQL's
  * explicit locking table.
  */
 LOCKMODE
-LockModeTextToLockMode(const char *lockModeName)
+LockModeCStringToLockMode(const char *lockModeName)
 {
 	LOCKMODE lockMode = -1;
 
@@ -925,13 +925,13 @@ LockModeTextToLockMode(const char *lockModeName)
 
 
 /*
- * LockModeToLockModeText gets a lockMode enum and returns its corresponding text
+ * LockModeToLockModeCString gets a lockMode enum and returns its corresponding text
  * representation.
  * The function errors out if the input lock mode isn't defined in the PostgreSQL's
  * explicit locking table.
  */
 const char *
-LockModeToLockModeText(LOCKMODE lockMode)
+LockModeToLockModeCString(LOCKMODE lockMode)
 {
 	const char *lockModeText = NULL;
 
@@ -958,16 +958,46 @@ LockModeToLockModeText(LOCKMODE lockMode)
 
 
 /*
- * lock_relation_if_exists gets a relation name and lock mode
+ * LockRelationIfExists gets a relation name, lock mode, a nowait flag
  * and returns true if the relation exists and can be locked with
  * the given lock mode. If the relation doesn't exists, the function
  * return false.
  *
+ * If nowait is true, and the lock is already acquired an error will be
+ * thrown.
+ *
  * The relation name should be qualified with the schema name.
  *
  * The function errors out if the lockmode isn't defined in the PostgreSQL's
  * explicit locking table.
  */
+static bool
+LockRelationIfExists(text *relationName, const char *lockModeCString, bool nowait)
+{
+	/* get the lock mode */
+	LOCKMODE lockMode = LockModeCStringToLockMode(lockModeCString);
+
+	/* resolve relationId from passed in schema and relation name */
+	List *relationNameList = textToQualifiedNameList(relationName);
+	RangeVar *relation = makeRangeVarFromNameList(relationNameList);
+
+	uint32 nowaitFlag = nowait ? RVR_NOWAIT : 0;
+
+	/* lock the relation with the lock mode */
+	Oid relationId = RangeVarGetRelidExtended(relation, lockMode, RVR_MISSING_OK |
+											  nowaitFlag,
+											  CitusRangeVarCallbackForLockTable,
+											  (void *) &lockMode);
+	bool relationExists = OidIsValid(relationId);
+	return relationExists;
+}
+
+
+/*
+ * lock_relation_if_exists is a wrapper for LockRelationIfExists.
+ * Because lock_relation_if_exists is a udf and exposed to the user,
+ * this function also checks that it must be executed in a transaction block.
+ */
 Datum
 lock_relation_if_exists(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
 {
@@ -984,21 +1014,7 @@ lock_relation_if_exists(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
 	/* ensure that we're in a transaction block */
 	RequireTransactionBlock(true, "lock_relation_if_exists");
 
-	/* get the lock mode */
-	LOCKMODE lockMode = LockModeTextToLockMode(lockModeCString);
-
-	/* resolve relationId from passed in schema and relation name */
-	List *relationNameList = textToQualifiedNameList(relationName);
-	RangeVar *relation = makeRangeVarFromNameList(relationNameList);
-
-	uint32 nowaitFlag = nowait ? RVR_NOWAIT : 0;
-
-	/* lock the relation with the lock mode */
-	Oid relationId = RangeVarGetRelidExtended(relation, lockMode, RVR_MISSING_OK |
-											  nowaitFlag,
-											  CitusRangeVarCallbackForLockTable,
-											  (void *) &lockMode);
-	bool relationExists = OidIsValid(relationId);
+	bool relationExists = LockRelationIfExists(relationName, lockModeCString, nowait);
 	PG_RETURN_BOOL(relationExists);
 }
 
@@ -1081,6 +1097,9 @@ CitusLockTableAclCheck(Oid relationId, LOCKMODE lockmode, Oid userId)
  * it has metadata or not. This is because a worker node only knows itself
  * and previous workers that has metadata sync turned on. The node does not
  * know about other nodes that have metadata sync turned on afterwards.
+ *
+ * A nowait flag is used to require the locks to be available immediately
+ * and if that is not the case, an error will be thrown
  */
 void
 AcquireDistributedLockOnRelations(List *relationIdList, LOCKMODE lockMode, bool nowait)
@@ -1088,7 +1107,7 @@ AcquireDistributedLockOnRelations(List *relationIdList, LOCKMODE lockMode, bool
 	Oid relationId = InvalidOid;
 	List *workerNodeList = ActivePrimaryNodeList(NoLock);
 
-	const char *lockModeText = LockModeToLockModeText(lockMode);
+	const char *lockModeCString = LockModeToLockModeCString(lockMode);
 
 	/*
 	 * We want to acquire locks in the same order across the nodes.
@@ -1120,7 +1139,7 @@ AcquireDistributedLockOnRelations(List *relationIdList, LOCKMODE lockMode, bool
 								LOCK_RELATION_IF_EXISTS;
 			appendStringInfo(lockRelationCommand, lockCommand,
 							 quote_literal_cstr(qualifiedRelationName),
-							 lockModeText);
+							 lockModeCString);
 
 			WorkerNode *workerNode = NULL;
 			foreach_ptr(workerNode, workerNodeList)
@@ -1131,11 +1150,11 @@ AcquireDistributedLockOnRelations(List *relationIdList, LOCKMODE lockMode, bool
 				/* if local node is one of the targets, acquire the lock locally */
 				if (workerNode->groupId == localGroupId)
 				{
-					DirectFunctionCall3(
-						lock_relation_if_exists,
-						(Datum) cstring_to_text(qualifiedRelationName),
-						(Datum) cstring_to_text(lockModeText),
-						(Datum) nowait);
+					LockRelationIfExists(
+						cstring_to_text(qualifiedRelationName),
+						lockModeCString,
+						nowait
+						);
 					continue;
 				}
 
diff --git a/src/include/distributed/resource_lock.h b/src/include/distributed/resource_lock.h
index 16b8aaed9..f626f8307 100644
--- a/src/include/distributed/resource_lock.h
+++ b/src/include/distributed/resource_lock.h
@@ -153,8 +153,8 @@ extern void LockParentShardResourceIfPartition(List *shardIntervalList,
 											   LOCKMODE lockMode);
 
 /* Lock mode translation between text and enum */
-extern LOCKMODE LockModeTextToLockMode(const char *lockModeName);
-extern const char * LockModeToLockModeText(LOCKMODE lockMode);
+extern LOCKMODE LockModeCStringToLockMode(const char *lockModeName);
+extern const char * LockModeToLockModeCString(LOCKMODE lockMode);
 extern void AcquireDistributedLockOnRelations(List *relationIdList, LOCKMODE lockMode,
 											  bool nowait);
 #endif /* RESOURCE_LOCK_H */